This last week, like for many around the UK, it has been our May half term! The bank holiday passed us by in a fog as a day to rest from all the late nights and dancing at the wedding of the year (and we don’t even drink!). Ethan and Megan spent a good chunk of the week with 6 of their cousins having the annual grandma’s sleepover at Grandma Smith’s house – they came home very excited and very tired and we were very grateful she invited them all.
I suppose that this last week of May and its haphazard feel, is a bit of a representation of our May on the whole. We haven’t had any major day’s out or been anywhere overly exciting, and nor have we any huge news or achievements to share. It has simply been an average busy month of being here, there and everywhere (and nowhere too). We have been assisting with preparing for the wedding of the year, trying to start up some child care here in the village (unsuccessfully at the moment) and survive parenting!!
This months pictures were taken last weekend at my sister in law’s wedding and has been one of the most popular that I have shared on instagram this year (I suppose we scrub up well!). It was such a brilliant weekend that has left both families on a complete high for the entire week and has been mostly what we have been talking about. It was fun, high spirited, beautiful and filled with adoration and love.
We had a small family only ceremony on the friday at church for the legal part (we ditched our kids with my mum for this) and then a ceremony in our Temple in Chorley that evening which is always super special and meaningful. We spent friday night decorating and after only a few hours sleep reconvened for a delicious wedding breakfast at the house saturday morning. Saturday was the main event in the sense that we had another ceremony with friends and she walked down the aisle with bridesmaids. The groom sang and they reflected deeply on the commitment being made through marriage – it was beautiful! Then came the after party – a delicious meal in the marquee, funny and emotional speeches, a flash mob from both families (so.much.fun!) and a night of dancing til midnight which wound up with only the 2 families left – shaking it and laughing our heads off whilst eating freshly delivered pizzas!
It was a unique wedding as both bride and groom are one of 11 (yes 11 kids!). And we realised this last weekend how special and fun big families truly are. I have always wanted a big family (not this big) with about 6 kids, but the reality, finances and mental wellbeing of it all I just don’t know would survive! But there is certainly a special bond and vibe from big families and I am grateful for the one I married into.
We all meshed brilliantly through this weekend and had so much fun! We have found some very special friends in our new largely expanded portuguese side of the family and love them all. What a fabulous weekend and what wonderful kind and lovely people we were surrounded by. I have to share this pic of bride and groom with just parents and siblings to show you the sheer size of 22 kids from just 2 families (2 are on missions for our church, but one had a cardboard representation!) and our immediate family from Nathan’s side minus about 14 of the cheeky grandkids – we love them!
The wedding was certainly the highlight of the month of May, but we have also had a couple of other lovely things too this month. May itself began with Nathan having the kids solo for a day whilst I went to Manchester with some fellow bloggers for Blog On (a blogging conference). It was a great day out and always motivational to learn new things to help me in one of my favourite hobbies of writing a blog. We love the goody bags I bring home and opportunities to meet people who share a mutual interest of the online world and writing!
The next highlight of the month (aside from aforementioned wedding of the year) was being able to go to Thriller Live with Nathan. It has been ages since we had a date night that saw us leaving the house, and as lovers of both live music and Michael Jackson’s music, it was absolutely fabulous. It is so good for the soul to sing and dance together and its great for our marriage to have some fun out of the house without the kids! We have been listening to MJ and talking about it for a good chunk of May! It was great and we had a fab night together.
Alice is going to playgroup twice a week now on a morning and now goes without the mammoth meltdowns we initially had. One of the funniest moments this month was when we left the school gates from dropping Ethan and Megan at school and I directed her towards play group. She set off running down the village green shouting “I not going…no no no”! I couldn’t chase her for laughing so much, but also wanted to cry at how emotional she was over it all and wondered if it was even worth those tears and fears for her! She now seems to enjoy it though and we hope she will do more so as we head towards Summer and heading to 2 full days of pre-school come September!
Ethan and Megs are plodding along nicely. Megan had year 2 sats (“lots of quizzes”) this month and only expressed that it was really boring! Ethan’s musical skills are forever improving, with him now singing duets with his sisters of “Mary has a little lamb” as he play’s along on his keyboard (it is really cute). They all seem to think it is hilarious to sing “mummy had a little lamb” and for Alice to call me “Hey lady” or “Mrs Rubbish bin”! Let’s just say May has been a testing one on the parenting front – in more ways than being called random names by my kids whilst they all laugh!
Megan has been counting down to her 7th birthday which will be next friday – she cannot wait! She would like pretty much everything that is tailored to little girls and has talked endlessly about having a birthday tea at pizza hut and being able to watch netflix whilst taking a bath!?. We are hoping to have a family day out on the Saturday to Newby hall – they have a tractor festival on and an amazing play area/water feature for the kids to play – it looks and sounds a lot of fun for a family day out which if you are local to Yorkshire should totally have a look. We’ve been before and find it ideal for Megan to go wild. I am sure it will be followed by pizza hut for dinner!
June is set to be a party month, celebrating not just our little Megsie, but about 8 other family birthday’s too! We hope for a little more success in our endeavours, me to complete my first year of counselling, and lots more Summery weather to enjoy the outdoors and coast!
In May we are grateful for
*Family
*Weddings
*A new brother in law from a wonderful and brilliant family
*Sunshine
*A Day at the Beach
*The return of ice cream friday at school
