My head has been a bit of a mess for the last couple of months so I have decided to sit down and think of five things that have made me happy over the last few weeks – so that when I’m having a bad day I can come back here and see that the sunshine does come out of the clouds and make rainbows sometimes.

1. Simple Adventures With The Smalls

It is easy to forget the giggles and fun times when I’m stuck in a cloud and the kids seem to be doing nothing but snipe at each other, but there are lots of good times. Like the day we detoured on the way home from swimming lessons and spent an hour exploring our local nature reserve together. The kids happily ran about playing Star Wars together whilst I ambled along enjoying the late afternoon sun. It was nothing special but it was nice and it made me feel calm and centred (and tired the kids out so they actually went to sleep at bedtime…)

2. Stolen Grown-Up Weekends

The kids spend almost every other weekend with their Dad or their Nan and sometimes I hate it and other times I feel thankful for the time to just be Carole instead of Mummy. On one such weekend Caius and I escaped to visit his Dad and it was great to be somewhere different, having grown up conversations and going for walks in a different patch of countryside to normal without having to keep an eye on two tearaways. It was only a couple of days but it made a world of difference to my state of mind – and a huge dent in my reading list where I wasn’t interrupted every five seconds!

3. Frankenstein!
A highlight of May was having a girly evening with my Mum – we went out for dinner together and then went to my local Arts Centre to watch a live screening of the Royal Ballet’s newest production at the Royal Opera House – ‘Frankenstein.’ Mum and I both read the book in the run up to the night and were excited to see how it had been interpreted into dance.
It was breathtaking – based heavily on the book rather than the Hollywood version which, in my opinion, was a very good move. The score was incredible, the dancing was mesmerising and the Creature was truly creepy. It is a brilliant production and the three hours just flew by. I’d happily watch it all over again – and that’s coming from a girl who has pretty much always believed that ‘ballet is boring!’

4. Driving With The Roof Down

Caius has a new project. It is blue, has four seats, a big engine and a roof that folds down. Amazingly it also has indicators that work and it fits neatly into parking spaces which is unusual given that it is made by BMW 😉

Taking the kids out for a spin with the roof down was hilarious. We didn’t go anywhere other than down local country lanes but hearing their excited giggles as their hair flew around in the wind was like tonic for the soul. The beautiful burble and roar of the engine was pretty darn good too 😉

5. Two Monkeys, A Monk and A Mug (Or Two Monkeys²)

Our (terrible) pub quiz team name – the last couple of months Caius and I have teamed up with my parents at a charity pub quiz in one of their local pubs. We have scored a big fat zero on the odd round (we don’t know our celebrities very well…) but have got full marks on a few too, but regardless of score we always spend a lot of the time laughing and come home happy. It’s good to catch up with familiar faces each time, too. I have almost reached a point where socialising in a pub with my reception/year 1/A-level teachers isn’t completely weird too. Sometimes I forget I’m actually an adult now :p