Happy New Year Blogland!

Hello Blogland!

Welcome to 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How have you been?

We have been GREAT!

December is a big celebration month - big on celebration - but very tough on the Bank Balance - but hey! - that's life.   December has.... My Birthday (yay - happy birthday me!) Christmas! - Merry Christmas! - Lucas' Birthday - PARTY! - and then to cap it all nicely New Year's Eve.   So... quite a quiet month really...  haha.

My Birthday was lovely - a nice family Sunday Lunch at the Local Chinese Restaurant - it was all you can eat - Lucas had 3 trips to the Chocolate Fountain! and lots of Egg Fried Rice (separately - obviously).

Christmas was quiet, Father Christmas was very proud of Lucas had had him listed very high up on the Good Boy List - he has been very proud of him this year, and I think he had managed to get everything on his Surprise Wish List too.

We had Christmas Turkey Surprise! for lunch - the surprise?   Marcus bought a massive Pork Joint at 5.30pm Christmas Eve weighing in at over 6 pounds in weight - (3 kgs) for the bargain price of £1.56 - seriously! - and it was a very very very nice piece of meat indeed!  Marcus now has a full time job going "bargain shoppinging on Holidays now".  Marcus came home with lots of lovely goodies from his Shopping Expedition.  He had a similar result New Year's Eve too.

Lucas's 8th Birthday was lovely.   It was a real Friends and Family affair.   We managed to book a Bowling Party for him at the local Hollywood Bowl.  This was a risk as it was a "Group Event" - but Lucas has been doing so well with his Group work with Mel and his Tennis Lessons, we took the risk and Booked a Group Bowling Party - ok, I confess - the massive in bold statement on the Party advert stating PARTY HOST! - was very tempting... I really just handed 12 Children over to this poor defenceless Party Host and let him get on with it... it was fun!

Well, actually there were 12 of us Adults all looking on watching the "Party Host" trying to handle the 12 Children.... and... yes... it was fun..... haha - and they provided us with free Coffee too! - Lucas announced that it was his best Birthday Party Ever! - he had a great time.

One of Lucas's birthday presents was Monopoly Millionaire - a revamped version of Monopoly.   (Thank you Auntie Debbie).

We played this on New Year's Eve.   Daddy won the first game - then I beat Daddy on the second game! - YAY me!  I AM writing this fact down! - we had a lovely family New Year, Lucas stayed up till midnight and watched the fireworks on the TV and really enjoyed the evening.

On New Year's day we spent the afternoon "Scooting" around the local Park.    Definition of "Scooting" - 8 year old child "Scoots off on Christmas Scooter really fast" - Auntie Mandy and Louise spend the afternoon trying to catch up - it's a New Year Workout...

We then got back and played Monopoly Millionnaire again.  THEN  Lucas really surprised me.

He is only 8 years old.   He has only played this game 3 times.   He had managed to purchase "Park Lane and Mayfair equivalents" on the board - the richest squares, and he had also put 2 "free houses" on the cards - and then it was his next go, he just said - OK.... how much do I need to buy another house?  - I told him it was M60 each for those cards - he then said - ok... I already have 1 on each, here is M120 for 2 more, then another M120 for another 2, then another M120 for another 2 - have I got 4 houses now?  ok cool - so here's another M120 for a hotel on each... is that right?

I was impressed.    VERY VERY impressed.  I told him how extremely impressed I was with his maths and his business head.   He is 8 years old! - and that was his 3rd go at that game.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - AND BEST WISHES TO ALL FOR 2013