Last time I hosted book club we all had rather too much to drink, thankfully we were slightly more restrained last Wednesday and there were no hangovers on Thursday. I went for a very short run on Friday morning and then went to circuits at the RAF gym at lunchtime. Probably not a good idea when I was full of the cold but I managed it and then was aching all weekend. Thankfully I am just about completely over it now, unlike Nick who still has a hacking cough. Mum & Dad came up for the weekend so Nick & I could go to the F3 hangar party, which was brilliant fun. With the clock change it was 3am when we got to bed and 7am when we woke so you can imagine that Sunday was a bit of a write off, for me anyway, luckily we had a takeout for tea as I don't think I would have had the energy to make something. I've been out running a couple of times this week and am just beginning to get aching stomach muscles from the core stability class I went to at lunchtime today. I think I can finally say I have my mojo back and am happily back into my exercise routine - of course it's the school holidays next week so it may all go to pot again.

Just realised it's been ages since I blogged, so here it is. On Friday 11th it was a frosty but sunny morning and we removed this from the bird bath before school - it's a shame it melted shortly afterwards.
After school Tom, Lily & I went down to Hawick for a visit to Ruth & Philip and Rachel. We had a lovely, if brief, visit with them and woke up to lots of snow on the Saturday morning so Tom spent most of the day outdoors with the dogs and the snow. Lily was in and out all day too helping Rachel with farming chores and playing with the dogs.
Then last week I had a job interview at Dundee University (I didn't get it but it was good practice.) I had to get Louise round to look after Tom as he was off school until Thursday with a nasty cough and cold. I had a PTA meeting on Wednesday night and needed Louise round again as Nick was very busy at work all week and not getting home much before 9pm.
On Saturday it was off to space school for Tom and learning about Geosciences. Then he came home with Greg who was staying overnight so come Sunday we had a very tired little boy.

The weather this week has been unseasonally warm and I managed out into the garden today to take some pics and do a tiny bit of tidying up. I love this hellebore.
Yesterday was the disbandment of III (f) Sqn and so I was out at Leuchars for most of the day to watch the parade and have some lunch.

We're not going to see these flying round again anytime soon. I've been out running again today and there is talk of a core stability class on Friday! Tonight is book club and under discussion is Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights which I havent enjoyed very much at all. And I think that is you all up to date.

After the excitement of Friday Tom was at his second day of space school studying Chemistry on Saturday and then off to Murrayfield with Nick to watch Scotland get beaten by Ireland. I can't actually remember what Lily & I did so I guess it was mostly lounging! We had a fairly uneventful last week until Friday when Frances & Jenny came up for the weekend. We 3 went out to the Dolls House for dinner and then onto the Westport for a couple of drinks before calling it a night at around midnight. On Saturday we met up in town for a bit of shopping before returning to our house for coffee and cakes. I had taken the children to Waterstones so the children were busy reading their new books and left us to our gossip. All too soon it was time for the girls to leave and Tom, Lily and I continued the day reading, relaxing and watching telly while Nick was at work.
On Sunday Jen, Roddy and their kids came round for lunch along with Jason and his two so we had quite a full house. The kids ate in the kitchen whilst we sat in the dining room. Pudding was
courtesy of Jen and it was a massive and delicious pavlova.
After lunch the boys took the children for a walk and Jenny & I sat by the fire chatting until the peace was shattered when they returned in time for football on the telly. Mark arrived to watch the match too. Finally everyone went home and the house was tidied and I could put my feet up before having an early night.
Nick had Monday & Tuesday off work and took advantage of the beautiful weather for a couple of rounds of golf.

He played the Castle course on Monday and New course on Tuesday, this is a view from the Castle course.

I am slowly getting back into my running and hopefully will make it a permanent fixture in my life again this time. I have been running with Jenny which makes it easier as I know I would probably stop and walk occassionally if left to my own devices.

Wednesday 16th was the start of half term for Tom & Lily so as Nick had the week off work as well we drove up to Glenshee for a day on the slopes.
Not sure if you can see from the photos or not but Lily doesn' t look too happy, this was her first introduction to Poma's or button lifts and T bars. Needless to say it didn't go too well and she fell off and was dragged a few times before getting the hang of them!

Also, being Scotland it was a total whiteout at the top of the mountain so that made the skiing difficult too. After a few hours Lily & I stopped and left the boys to it for another hour before we all jumped back in the car for the drive home. Then on Friday Nick & Tom went off for a hill walk on the Lomond Hills whilst Lily & I took it easy at home.

We had a quiet weekend and week this week culminating in much excitement today as Prince William & Kate were in town and Tom had been chosen by his Headmistress, along with Sara, to present Kate with a bouquet of flowers. How fantastic is that?

Touched by the future King of England, I was able to stand in a prime spot in front of all the press photographers and take pictures and then when Wills & Kate went on walkabout I managed to blag one of the photographers ladders so I was above everyone standing in the crowd and was able to take some fabulous shots of William as he made his way along the
crowds of people.

What a fantastic day, I'm still on a high and I didn't even get to talk or shake hands with him. Oh and Tom was also on the ITV & STV news (albeit in a blink and you'll miss it kind of way!)

We went to the Thai Restaurant for dinner on the 4th along with a few friends from Nick's work and had a delicious meal. Then it was a quiet weekend for all. This last week we had Mark from work over for dinner on Thursday and we had a fabulous home made beef stew and pudding courtesy of M&S.
On Saturday Tom went to University for the day - he had been selected to go to Space School which is run by the University of St Andrews and involves learning about Physics, Astronomy, Geosciences, Psychology, Chemistry etc over a selection of 6 Saturdays between now and June. It then culminates in a 3 day event in June (missing school) with guest speakers and actual astronauts from NASA coming over to talk to the children. How fantastic is that? Naturally Tom is 'over the moon' about the whole thing and to make it even better for him, Gregg (his BFF!) got selected from his school to go too.
So while Tom was at space school, mum & dad arrived (it was my mum's birthday on the 11th) and Nick took dad for a round of golf and Lily, mum & I went to visit Cambo Estates for a walk

among the snowdrops - mum's favourite flower and Cambo Estate is famous for its display in spring. www.camboestates.com It is a beautiful garden with some lovely sculptures and

pigs!

We ran out of time to walk through the woods down to the beach but we had fun all the same, Lily's friend Cade came along with us too.

After that I dropped them all off at home, had a quick treasure hunt with Cade & Lily and then went off to pick up Tom & Gregg. They had had a fabulous time and are looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks time. I dropped the boys off at Greg's and then it was back home to hunt for dinosaurs in the garden. I managed to find all but 2 of them and Cade & Lily couldn't remember where they had put them so we may or may not stumble across them at some point in the future. All too soon it was 5pm so I took Cade home and collected Tom and then it was home for the night and a nice glass of wine and meal with mum & dad. Salmon for dinner and leftover M&S pud. Yum.

We haven't been doing a whole lot really during January, I have to say I'm glad it's over and we're into February now.
Henry, Christine and their children, David & Sarah came round to lunch a couple of Sundays ago and Nick and I were at the RAF Burns night last Friday. I drove to that as I was out on the Thursday with some girlie friends and we all got rather drunk and stayed out very late. We had a great night though!
And apart from that all we've been doing is catching mice
and repairing punctures on my car.

I got home from work on Thursday with a completely flat tyre, the nice man at Kwik Fit showed me the cause of the damage...a great big drill bit stuck right through the tyre. So there was no repairing that and as well as damaging my tyre beyond repair it damaged my finances beyond repair too. Luckily my overdraft is authorised so no nasty bank charges for me.

Not much to report really. Nick is in London for a couple of days, Tom & Lily are both off school with nasty colds and Tom has a cough as well. I saw a mouse in the kitchen last night so had to look out the traps again and dispose of a dead body this morning!
I went to Bunco last Wednesday and won £5.50 but will miss book club tonight as I don't want to get a sitter in when the children are unwell. I also had to cancel lunch out on Tuesday with Kathleen (who I haven't seen for 3 or 4 years) because of those pesky children. Oh well, I'd better be off to make up some hot drinks and clean up snotty tissues! The joys of motherhood never end.