Grandad Pops grew pumpkins for the boys, I expected 2 small pumpkins.... but instead we got 2 big ones... took us over an hour to empty them and cut out the faces for the lanterns.
The end result...
We dont go out to trick or treat... have too many visitors wanting sweets so the boys help me out..
Not sure if Gemma was trying to join in with the dressing up... or hiding under her blanket (she spends most of the day dragging this around behind her)..
This week we were given a cottage on the grounds at Harcombe House in Devon.
The fire service run these centers for past and present firefighters to have Therapy,rest & recuperation.
Within a few minutes of arriving at the cottage, the boys had spotted a football goal, after an initial scramble of running for bedrooms deciding who had which (Jon won running to the main bedroom shouting it was HIS).
We spent some of the time visiting the local seasides, lovely to look at but much too cold to dip our toes in. The boys spent all the rest of their stay on the five a side football pitch (am so glad we packed a football!).
On the tuesday morning we got up early and met at the bootwash at 10am for a guided walk through some of the trails available to use. We were taught all about the local wildlife and scenery. Chris called it a 20 mile walk it was more like a 3 mile walk but we all enjoyed it.
In the evening on Tuesday the bar held a Halloween party for everyone, it was amazing to see how many children there actually were on the site. During the daytime we had only seen a couple of other children there must have been nearly 30 children in the hall. The kids played games including apple bobbing, hit the witch pinata (Chris managed to whack a lollipop out of it) and wrap the mummy (sorry no photo forgot to take the camera) they wrapped me up with 4 bandages, the fastest and tidiest mummy won, we didn't win but a lot of laughter took place. The boys had another go back at the cottage on each other.
Most of the holiday the boys spent playing football, the site also had a lovely private indoor pool, some days we even went swimming twice. The kids really enjoyed playing about with Jon and I, we played Tag and water polo and generally splashed about. In the evenings we tended to stay in the cottage playing family games on the playstation (even got Jon joining in a karaoke evening on it.) and sports on the Wii.
All too soon it was Friday and time to pack and come home, even Butterly the cat popped in to say goodbye to us. 
We thoroughly enjoyed our weeks break and found out that the fire service have 3 of these centers around the country, they not only use them for rest & recuperation and therapy for fire fighters, serving and X-serving firefighters can also hire the cottages at a small fee to help fund the center, Jon and I both would recommend giving this a go. You can stay full board, half board, or like us self catering, the cottages have everything you need for a comfortable stay. (photo me in the kitchen, Jon did do some of the cooking too!)
We would like to thank the Fire Service Benevolent Fund for giving us this opportunity to spend a whole week together. We can now see were part of the donations given to the charity get well spent.
Laughed and Cried this evening...
Finally after many many weeks of trying I have finally lost a stone of weight... only three stone left to lose... (sorry dont use kg).
But tonight I thought I was going to miss my clap/cheer from all the other people at my slimming club, they had a curry night tonight, and as I cannot even stand the smell let alone trying to taste curry, so I went in early for my weigh in and didn't stay to class.. felt really strange not staying.
But while catching up on Hollyoaks on the TV this evening the phone rang and I was told my mum wanted a quick word, but it wasn't my mum on the phone (it was her phone though!) it was Suzanne from slimming world.. she said she had something for me... the next minute I heard a big cheer and clapping... I hadn't missed my cheer for losing a stone after all... it made me laugh and cry... daft lot... but THANK YOU... its taken so long to get to this point... I hope to lose at least another half a stone before Christmas to hopefully go down a dress size.
Today we had a celebration party to say THANK YOU to all our family and friends who supported us throughout Jon's treatment.
It was just drinks and nibbles nothing special really, we hired a local leisure center for the event. The Herongate in Hungerford, it was perfect, relaxing comfy chairs and sofa's a lovely bar with great bar staff.
It wasn't just adults, kids were welcome too... they were a bit lively at the start but we had taken a TV/Video machine down with Mr Bean... with a bit of bribery of calm down and you can have a refill of sweets did the trick.
We didn't have entertainment, but we did watch England win their semi final rugby game on a big screen, some people played pool, but everyone I have spoken to enjoyed the evening and catching up with old friends and having a chat.
Another reason for the event was to raise some money for the nursing staff at the Adelaide Ward, a donation pot was left on the Bar, we were very pleased with the result but donation's are still being given to us at the moment,(so no total yet) also the local fire brigade were Jon works have asked to do a Car wash and donate some of the proceeds to the fund for the nurses too.
There still were people who were unable to attend, it was a bit short notice, so maybe we can catch those people and take them for a drink another time.
Thank you to everyone who did manage to come have a drink with us... all thats left to say is THANK YOU.
After a quiet morning, still recovering from the kids party .... we went on a 30 mile hike with Dean, Tina & Holly with Oscar...
Gemma and Oscar tried many times to chase rabbits and pheasants but thankfully neither managed to catch anything..
OK maybe 30 miles was an exageration but it felt like it at the time!.. the weather stayed nice and the dogs and kids had a really good run...
Back home now both kids and Gemma are worn out... looking forward to the peaceful evening ahead.
Bit of a blur as they never actually stayed still long enough to photo them.
Finally they stay still but a tangle of heads n tails shows how thirsty they both got.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS
Today Chris is 9 years old... our little lad is growing up fast...
Never fun to have your birthday on a school day, but Chris had a good day and enjoyed sharing gingerbread men with all his class at the end of the day (meant to be a healthy snack or biscuit, and no sweets to pass to classmates not easy deciding what to take in.)
After School Chris had a couple of friends round for the afternoon then a sleepover, the whole evening has been based on Doctor Who.... everyone here today likes Doctor Who so made life easy...
They made Doctor Who masks... and played toys from the tv series... finally I found a small program on the BBC website that got the children to be the doctors assistant and help him on a mission lasts about 10 mins but they really enjoyed it. Its on the Doctor Who section of BBC website called attack of the Graske... I hope they make some more of them it was good fun watching them solve the puzzles.
After a final viewing of an episode of Doctor Who with bowls of popcorn, they finally went to bed... an hour later... eventually going to sleep...
All in all its been a fun day, I'm sure there will be some tired kids tomorrow from all the giggling that went on.
Hope they dont wake up too early tomorrow.... (fingers crossed)
