March saw a birthday...

L turned 10! a good day with her school and Brownies friends, a science lady with a host of gooey and sticky stuff and some bangs and explosions, a large red balloon, food and cake...

busy with work, bit of a rut of work, home, kids, sleep, get up, school run, work etc...

but - had a day trip to give a lecture in Antwerp, Belgium, - dropped girls off, 11.00 am train eurostar, leisure select (large solo seat and food and wine at the table!).
finished reading "girl with the dragon tattoo"...

lecture went well, (well practised presentation) with nice bunch of interested post-grad students ( I can do this sutff! i went last year they specifically invited me back...) ...then an hour of shopping in Antwerp and home - glass of champagne with dinner and reading....home to carer with Ixand girls had gone to stay over with friends.

meanwhile, sunday i dug the bare patch in the lawn and planted gras seed, put in some shrubs - and then went to see "the girl with the dragon tattoo " at the cinema...excellent and as good as the book...now starting the next book in the trilogy...

pottering in garden, reading, cinema - a good day.

siblings and cousins

don't often catch them all in one photo so here they are...

we were visiting baby H and the nearly-three year old cousins came too. busy household.

a good day out with family.

three sisters, one elderly (great) aunt, a 13 year old, a 10 yr old, a 7 yr old; two brothers-in-law, two toddlers, one baby!

and have booked the train to Scotland to visit brother and his two girls May bank holiday.

my son's view of me as a working mum....

Ix chatting yesterday: typing.

"daddy lives in xxx street"

"aunty lives in xxxxx"

"J and I live in oxford"

"mummy lives in work"