Escape

The washing-up fairy visited last night, hurrah! (Please have a look at yesterday's wellyboots blip!) Which meant that this morning there was very little to do except make breakfast and get dressed. Thank goodness.

I am truly suffering the lack of caffeine. I am tired, lethargic, irritable. But I am determined to rid my system of its influences. Only a few more days to go and then I'll have run the course of decaffeination!

We were late to church as usual though. Well, on average we weren't because Steve had gone early to fit the bits he was tinkering with yesterday. But we were there in time to send Ben off to Sparklers. I even got to sit down for some of the service, because Steve stayed in creche with Charley until it was naptime!

Had such a lovely compliment about Ben today. There's a lady at church who I know by sight and chat to almost every week but I still don't know her name - but she loves seeing Charley wrapped up on me and this week made the association between me and Ben. Ben apparently had just decided he was going to talk to her, even though she was chatting to someone else, and as soon as she realised he wasn't going away she let him chatter away. He showed her all the toys, the coffee, wanted to share things with her. She said she loved how animated he was as he talked, such infectious enthusiasm, how lovely it was to interact like that! Yeah I know I'm gushing but it don't half make you proud when you get compliments like that about your kids! I hope life doesn't squash that animation out of him....

Packing down afterwards seemed to take ages. Steve wasn't supposed to be on the team today but ended up helping anyway. Walked home, shattered. Got grumpy. Ran away and escaped to the garden, leaving the boys to use Steve as a climbing frame despite him attempting to catnap on the sofa. Came back to find there'd apparently been a squirrel trying to get in through the back window!! Hmm, no more leaving that window open a crack then!

We'd been invited to a barbecue and spent a loooong time trying to muster up the motivation to go but I'm glad we went. It was lovely to get to know people a little better, and even I (a self-confessed social-phobe) enjoyed myself. Ben made the youngsters (gah... I am old) laugh, and both boys charmed everyone. Ben enjoyed throwing fish food onto the fishpond, watching the (very huge) fish bob up to eat the pellets.

Home and Steve went out again, to the first night of this week's evening prayer meetings. The boys finished off sausages and got ready for bed and eventually fell asleep after a lot of giggling and tickling and fidgeting.

Wonder what the evening will hold, whether I'll get any cups drawn on, how the prayer meeting went.