The weather this week has been fantastic, it's been in the 20's C, which is blooming hot for Scotland in March. 
I took the children to see a couple of films at the movies at the weekend, We bought a Zoo and The Hunger Games.  Both were quite good, just a shame to be sat indoors when it was so nice outside. 
I've managed to continue to get out running 3 times a week which is good and showing with my times as they keep improving. 
Tom is at a birthday party this afternoon and Lily is playing in the garden.  I think Nick might be on a train home at the moment or just about to board one on his way home from Cranwell where he has been the last couple of days.

Trying to remember what we have been up to over the last couple of weeks, well, Nick and I went round to Jen & Rod's for a curry a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday so my Friday run up Balmullo Hill was quite hard work but I felt great afterwards.  Then I think we had a fairly quiet weekend.  This last weekend, Nick and I went out for dinner to The Russel Hotel on Saturday night and I was working at the Byre Theatre during the day on both Saturday and Sunday. 
It was Nick's birthday on Tuesday this week, so Marks & Spencers made dinner for us and I just reheated it and then we ate cake. 
The weather has been fantastic here the last week or so, dry and sunny with not too much wind.  I have managed to get the back and front grass cut. Now I need to clean the bedroom windows again - why do they get so flippin' dirty?  I hate cleaning windows :( I don't actually hate doing it, I just know I make such a lousy job of it, I may get them clean but they are by no means anywhere near being streak free! 

We have had a lovely weekend.  Yesterday we had lunch out at Zizzi's with Angela, Amber and Daisy and then came back here for tea and cake and meringues and krispie cake (yes, Lily and I had been busy in the kitchen).  Any excuse will do, but it was Ang's birthday.



Afternoon tea party in honour of Angela's birthday



 

Then today we had Sunday lunch before Tom, Lily and I headed off to Tentsmuir for the afernoon, leaving Nick in peace for an afternoon of sports heaven on the telly (Fulham v Wolves, Ireland V France, Spurs v Man U) .  We bumped into Jason with Harrison and Libby and so after our walk we went back there for a cuppa and chat/play.  We had a lovely day - not so dear Nick whose beloved Wolves lost 5-0 at Fulham.  The moral of the day - don't stay home watching sport - enjoy the outdoors with your family and friends;)  Priceless. 

Well it's March already, both Tom & Lily got accepted to Kings School, Worcester and our house is now on the market...so now we wait and ready ourselves for a (final) move.

We have had some lovely weather over the last month and spent a large part of the half term holiday at the local beaches.



West Sands Beach - February Half Term

  Still all wrapped up against the cold but at least it's been sunny and not rainy.

Kingsbarns Beach - Half Term

Kingsbarns Beach - Splash

Apart from that, there's been not a lot going on here, Nick is busy with work, as always. I have been getting out running a bit more and have been keeping the house more tidy than usual just in case we get a viewing for the house.  And that's it really. 

I hate it when I get behind with my blog and I have to try and remember what we have all been up to. 

Tom, Lily and I went down to Worcester a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday so Lily could have a day at school on Friday while Tom & I looked at houses and then Tom went to school and sat his entrance exams on Saturday while Lily and I looked at some more houses.  We saw a couple of really nice ones but the locations were off putting.  We left Worcester on Saturday afternoon and drove up to Lenzie for dinner and bed before driving home on Sunday morning.  Then last weekend Lily and I drove down to Worcester again, this time on the Friday so Lily could sit her entrance exam on the Saturday and I looked at a couple of houses.  One of the houses was in Ledbury and was really nice but it would mean a 25 minute train ride every day for the children so we need to think about that idea some more.  When we left Worcester it had started to snow and it snowed most of the way up the road.  By the time we reached Cumbria the M6 was down to one lane and we were crawling over the lakes at 30mph so we eventually arrived at our final destination of the farm around 8pm and we were welcomed by all the family (Euan, Emily, Oscar, Jo & Rachel were all home for Ruth's birthday) and a glass of champagne for me!  Fab.  After dinner and packing Lily off to bed, Ruth, Jo, Rach and I sat up until 2 am catching up and putting the world to rights.  So we had a slow start on Sunday and after some lunch it was back in the car for Lily and myself and we set off home with a quick detour to Costco on the way. 

Mum & Dad came up last night for dinner and then today it was Mum's 70th birthday so Lily and I baked a cake and we had a very mini celebration before they went back home to enjoy the rest of their day.  Nick and I went out into the garden and did a spot of tidying up before the rugby came on the telly.

Happy 70th Birthday

And tomorrow we have Jason and his children round for a bit of Sunday lunch to look forward to before another busy week begins.

Since Nick went back to work on the 4th and we had nothing planned until the 10th when school restarted, Tom, Lily & I decided to visit Somerset for a couple of days so they could visit with their grandparents and I could nose around the almost completed renovations and extensions to their house.  So after a trip to the dentist for our 6 monthly checks we got strapped into the car for an 8 hour drive and arrived around 730pm in time for some delicious cottage pie for dinner.  The house is fabulous and it was lovely to catch up with the Les's, Martha, Gary and all the cousins and do a little bit of shopping at Clarks Village. 
Tom helped his Gramp out a bit with some plastering and painting and then asked permission for a science experiment involving party poppers and fire...so we got him kitted out with safety goggles, party poppers and a large box of matches under the supervision of Uncle Gar! 
The experiment was a partial success depending on your viewpoint.
There was a very small explosion - partial success, he had tried to blow up 3 or 4 within the confines of a bonfire - but most of the wood was too damp and even with copious amounts of paper and matches the poppers didn't go off with a very loud bang.
Tom didn't blow himself up - huge success.
No massive explosions - failure :(  He had lots of fun trying though and would have stayed out poking around the fire all day and night if he could have got away with it.  I think we have the makings of a pyromaniac on our hands here, hopefully we can channel him towards some clever sciencey engineering explosive type job instead.
We decided to split our journey home on Saturday up slightly so stopped off at Pershore for a look around the town and the obligatory cup of coffee and slice of cake, yum, before continuing up North as far as my mum & dad's in time for dinner again:)  We stayed overnight at Lenzie and then had a short drive home on Sunday morning.
This week I have been out at book club and then again last night for dinner at the Grill House with a few friends which was lovely.  I also went out for a run with Jen yesterday, 1st run in 2 months and we managed 36minutes non stop which we were both pretty pleased with.  I hope to get back out again tomorrow before meeting Jen again on Wednesday.
Nick and Tom have gone off hillwalking today, can't remember where, perhaps Ben Lawers.  Hope the weather is kind to them.

Happy New Year to you all, it has been incredibly windy again today so we lit the fire early and stayed in all day.  Greg came round yesterday afternoon in time for our delayed New Years Day lunch (Nick had been on call so wouldn't have been able to  enjoy a nice glass of wine with his lunch on the 1st) so we had a lovely plateful of beef and yorkies and roasties, along with some veg to make it somewhat healthy and loads of gravy.  After lunch the boys disappeared to Lego for hours before appearing for a sandwich and then disappearing again - Greg stayed overnight and then was here until around half 4 today so we haven't seen much of Tom at all, Lily got a call from Melissa after lunch so she disappeared off for the afternoon as wel,l so Nick and I were able to relax with a book (Nick) /jigsaw (Sarah) all afternoon. 
Earlier on in the week between Christmas and now we drove through to Edinburgh so Lily and I could do a bit of shopping and the boys went to the indoor climbing arena by Newbridge.  We all enjoyed ourselves and apart from that we have done nothing at all except eat, drink and be merry!