for the past two days Joseph has been holed up in his room, door shut focussing on a project.We have heard screaming, banging and throwing noises.  It turns out he had opened a Lego box that he got for Christmas and was building it all by himself.An extremely happy boy emerged today, proudly showing off his creation...

I have it.  The block. THE block.  You know, the one writers get? .. though I wouldn't class myself as a writer per se, but there you go!

I have had two busy weeks with a bank holiday squished in there somewhere, along with the safe (thank goodness) arrival of another gorgeous nephew.  A bit of a whopper at 10 lb 2 oz, making my eyes water at the very thought and I take my hat off to my sister-in-law for that one!

There has been football training, lacrosse training, the start of Joseph's football league and the odd bits of over-time thrown in.  Daddy on the Edge's company is in the middle of their 'May Sale', so he hasn't been getting home until late.

The tooth fairy was called upon last night as Katie - much to Joseph's disgust - lost another tooth  (he has yet to lose his first).

I have hurtled up to the High School to hand in - a rather late - uniform order form.  The lady was lovely and explained that the packs were sent out later than anticipated and not to take any notice of the deadline ... Hmm.  I have been grown up about this piece of information and passed it onto the Junior school so they can cascade to other - probably panicking - parents.

I have bread in the oven and cakes to go in, meal planning is going well - it's a flippin 5 week month for pay, just to finish me off!  I'm down to one piece of steak, some frozen peas and the ice packs again.  Time to batch cook and stock up I think.

Oh yes, have you read my bedtime story?  It was inspired by the night that Joseph was scared witless!

A bedtime story ...

It was a cold, rainy night and Joseph was getting ready for bed. He had drank all his milk, washed his face and had remembered to brush his teeth. Just as he was about to go upstairs, Mummy heard a cry.

"AAAARGH! Mummy, come quick!" he cried. "There is a huge monster in the house!"  

"What does this monster look like?" asked Mummy, a little bit out of breath from running.

"I-I-I-I-It has really big feet and lots and lots of legs," Joseph sniffed. 

"Anything else?" asked Mummy. 

"Er… it has long pointy teeth and enormous eyes!"

"Goodness me," said Mummy. "That does sound a scary monster."

"Yes," sniffed Joseph, who was feeling a bit braver now. "I'm sure it was growling too!"

Mummy smiled. "Did it have a little body and very long, hairy legs?"

Joseph nodded. "Yes, I think so.”

"And did you see all of his eyes?" asked Mummy. 

"Yes, yes!" cried Joseph.

Mummy laughed loudly. "Well," she said, "I think I know who you met. His name is Harry and he lives in a little hole behind the shoe rack. Sometimes, when I am cleaning, he pops his head out to say hello.”

Joseph was quiet. Surely, he thought, if Mummy wasn't scared, Harry must be a very friendly monster. "What type of monster is Harry?" he asked.  

Mummy smiled. "Harry is not a monster. He is called a wolf spider. He likes to come into our house at night time when it starts to get cold outside. He has lots of legs and can't find any warm trousers to fit him!"  

Joseph giggled. He thought it would be very funny to see a spider wearing trousers!

"Do you feel better now Joseph?" asked Mummy. "Do you think you are brave enough to go back to see Harry?"  

Joseph thought for a minute, "I-I-I might feel brave enough... but only if I can bring Teddy!"  

"Of course you can," smiled Mummy. "Let's go and find him".

It took a while to find Teddy as he was being very naughty, hiding under the bed. "Come on Teddy," said Joseph. "Mummy is taking us to meet Harry."  

"Where did you see him?" asked Mummy.

"Over there, by the bottom stair." 

Mummy looked, but could not see Harry. They looked under the shoe rack and behind the coats. Still no Harry.

"Where do you think he is?" asked Joseph. 

"I wonder whether you have frightened him, just like he frightened you," said Mummy. "Where would you go if you were scared?"  

Joseph looked at Teddy. "Home!” he cried, then raced back to the hole behind the shoe rack.

"Shh," whispered Joseph. "Here he comes."  

Joseph stayed close to Mummy and Teddy and together they all watched as Harry, very slowly, came out of his little hole. 

"Hello Harry," Joseph whispered. "I'm sorry I screamed before, but you made me jump!"

"I made you jump?" replied Harry, who was wearing a very smart black top hat. "But you are so big and I am so little. I can't hurt you!"  

Joseph smiled. "I know that now. Mummy has told me all about you. Teddy and I are not afraid of you anymore. Would you like to come and see my bedroom?"

"No way!" shouted Harry, looking worried. "I've seen your bedroom before and you've got a tiger in there!" And with that, Harry waved two of his eight legs, lifted his hat with another and ran back into his house. 

Joseph grinned. He knew that the tiger wasn't real – it was just a cuddly toy.

"That was awesome Mummy!  It's great to have a spider as a friend!"  

"Yes," said Mummy, "but now it is bedtime, so up the stairs we go.”

Joseph climbed into bed and hugged Teddy tightly. "Thanks for coming to meet Harry tonight," he whispered. 

As Joseph's eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep, he dreamed of a land where all spiders wore roller skates and had stripy pyjama bottoms....

This post has been written in conjunction with bed makers Warren Evans for National Share a Story Month 

With the Bank Holiday - weirdly - bringing warm weather, my two decided that it was the perfect day to do some of activities on the National Trust list of 'things to do before you are 11 3/4'.

They actually tried to squidge in, as many things as possible, into the one day "just in case it is not sunny for a looooong time Mummy" Hmm, they had a point there!

Our activities included:
-  climbing a tree
-  rolling down hills
-  trying to skim a stone
-  we didn't catch a fish in a net (but managed a tadpole in an icecream tub!)
-  tried to dam a stream
-  played pooh sticks
-  walked around barefoot - much to Daddy-on-the-Edge's disgust!
-  didn't find frogspawn, but caught a tadpole...

I don't think we did too bad actually, We have printed off pictures of all the activities so they can be stuck into their scrapbooks!  

Have you managed to tick off any challenges on your sheets yet?

I used to have a garden with grass.....!

I put an extremely giddy 6 year old to bed last night, only to be woken by a sleepy, but excited 7 year old - far too early at 5.50 am!  I did manage to keep him inside until 7 am when it all became too much and he went outside to play football.  All was well until a cry went up.. "Muuuuum! it's not fair - it's raining aaaaand it's my birthday!"Fear not dear readers, for rain does NOT stop play in this house!

Today is the day I've been dreading, but now it's here - well, it's not that bad.  The snow that I prayed for didn't arrive, nor did the hailstone downfall, but I suppose you can't have everything you ask for can you?

As you know Katie plays lacrosse and today is her end of season presentation evening.  The presentation is preceded by a kids v adults lacrosse match which I accidentally - ahem - agreed to play in.  Yeah, good one eh?

I have been helping Katie practise since she joined the club in October, and as a result, I am not totally rubbish.  As she has been getting better at catching, we have worked on defending strategies and checking, switching hands and passing.  This seems to have helped me a bit too - result!

Looking back to 2011, I struggled walking to and from school (5 minutes away) and the thought of even practising with Katie would have filled me with total horror.  However, here I am 2 years down the line, nearly 5 stone lighter, a runner (kind of a joggy hobble really) and bags of energy - I am slightly worried, but kind of excited too!

This will be the first time I've participated in a team sport since school sports lessons, around .. errm .. oh blimey .. 23 years ago!  My participation in school sports was sporadic at best - give me an excuse and I was outta there!  A faked trapped finger in the desk meant a visit to the nurse, strapped up fingers and a note for the pe teacher.

When I mentioned to Katie this morning that I was a little bit worried, she smiled reassuringly and said "Oh, coach said you will be marking me!  Forgot to tell you that bit - we will be blocking each other" cue a HUGE smile of relief from me.  

After all those rainy passing sessions whilst Joseph played football, the relentless throwing at different angles to improve her catching skills and the shoving that goes hand-in-hand with defending training - I know my girl.  

A little smile played on my lips and I hugged myself inwardly, as I remember that actually, I'm not totally rubbish and after all that practise with my girl, I can sooo whoop her backside!!

Watch it be rained off.....

Another bizarre conversation in the Edge household yesterday morning.  Picture this -

I am in the bathroom, brushing my teeth and Katie sneaks up behind me....

"When are you going to die?"
"Err, pardon?" nearly choking on my toothpaste
"What will I get?"
"eh?.."
"Have you made a will?"
"Oh, I see. No, I need to do that"
"What is a will? does it tell people what I get when you die?"
"Kind of, it is a letter to say what I want to happen when I'm gone.  For example, who would look after you and Joseph, or maybe who will have my jewellery.."
"You haven't really got anything 'cool' though in your jewellery box have you?  I mean, there is nothing 'gold' or really sparkly is there? and we can always stay with Nana and Grandad - or go to Spain to see Grandma and Grandad!"

I had to concede she had hit the nail on the head about my jewellery (or lack thereof) and I wasn't going to get into a discussion over where they will live at 7.50 in the morning!

"Well, no, but things do have a sentimental value.  Like that ring in the black box.  Your daddy bought me that when we were very young and just started going out.  It is not worth a lot of money, but it reminds me of those days..."  (I left "when we were happy and had money" hanging in the ether)

"Hmm.  Well, your engagement ring has snapped and has lost it's stone, so I don't want that, but - oh! - I know, can I have your wedding ring?"
"Yes, I suppose so "
"And Joseph can have that silver watch thingy ... it doesn't work, but that's okay cos he can't tell the time yet anyway!"

With that final statement, my daughter flounced out of the bathroom leaving me reeling a bit from the conversation; with a mental note to make a will and remember what I have promised to whom because, believe me, even all those years down the line (hopefully) Katie will definitely remember!

Marathon. Explosions. Death. Injuries.

Words that do not, no, should not be uttered in the same sentence.  Yet, here we are thinking about those that have lost lives and were injured in Boston yesterday.

The annual Boston Marathon this year had a total of about 23,000 runners and was watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators.  These were innocent people. They did not deserve this.  


The two explosions went off, seconds apart, at 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT), approximately two hours after the first runners crossed the finish line.  At least three people lost their lives and over 100 people were injured.  The FBI have someone in custody and are treating it as a "potential terrorist investigation".   President Barack Obama addressed the nation on television saying "we will find out who did this" and that those responsible would feel the "full weight of justice".


People enter marathons for all sorts of reasons.  From the simple reasons of 'I did it!' to raising money for charities close to their hearts.  They do not deserve what happened yesterday and my thoughts now are filled with those families, friends and runners in Boston.  


Today I have a candle burning, it will do nothing for those people in Boston,  but I light it as a sign of respect.