A Matter of Choice

I realise it may seem a little late to be sharing summer highlights for my readers in the UK, but for those in Cyprus I'm sure you can understand. Apart from the fact that the sun still shines here and the days are warm (I say warm I mean around 25 to 27 degrees so jeans and duvet weather now)  the summer 'season' runs till the end of October so it's about now that we all take a breath and change gear for the winter.   This year was very different for us as a family, extra work  as I started a part time seasonal job in addition to our other commitments, and for the first time, the boys went to summer school.  I was a bit apprehensive about it and hoped they would enjoy it, although I didn't want to force them to go if they really didn't get on there for some reason.  Our school holidays are very long, almost 13 weeks, so the chance for summer school is good for everyone.  Luckily they really enjoyed it,  so from when school finish...

Next week is Leo's 10th birthday and as I started to write my usual birthday letter I have just realised that I broke the habit of a (blog) lifetime last year and didn't write about his party! After so many epic themes (Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Spiderman, Lego, and Thomas the Tank Engine)  it was always going to be tricky to beat,  it was entirely Leo's choice (unlike a couple of the others where I may have gently planted the idea!)  So we had a Marvel party, complete with fancy dress - adults included!  With a 'Hulk Smash' Cake, Thor's Hammer marshmallows among other yummy treats.  As well as the traditional pass the parcel we had a couple of super hero training games 'minute to win it' style.  It was full fancy dress too, well until much of it was abandoned due to the heat! It was a great afternoon /evening for us adults as well as the kids!

Tis the season to be jolly, and to 'make memories'  (have I ever mentioned that I hate that expression?)  so I guess it's also the season to blog about those memories too? I loved our Christmas, it was simple, full of family, friends, food and fun. Our carefully planned amazon order containing most of the boys presents has still not arrived, and I was upset when I realised it would not make it in time,  luckily my parents saved the day and helped us get gifts for the boys to open but I realise I should have known my boys better and not worried quite as much. Christmas morning was probably our best yet,  now the boys are a little older they understand more and they didn't try and open everything in a mad panic and have it all done within minutes.  Stockings were opened, and then we had a break for breakfast before returning for the remainder.  The boys were so happy with their all their presents, the shower gels, a new sponge each, sweets, chocol...

This week's Sunday post is a Halloween special!  I must apologise, Sam, if you are reading this, for cropping you out of the photo but it just lent itself to this! We had our now traditional Halloween get together for the kids - well I say for the kids but the get-togethers go on a bit later these days and include a little more alcohol as we are joined by the men and the kids get less demanding. The 'pack'   (as Leo now calls the 5 children we have between us all)  are less interested in the games we used to play,  happy now to disappear off to their bedroom and do whatever it is they do for hours on end, but they still enjoy a few once we 'drag' them out to be sociable. Hanging doughnuts had been requested once again so that went down well No themed gathering would be complete without a Tiny Acorns craft! And of course, you can't have Halloween without a bit of trick or treating. As trick or treating' isn't done generally ...

You may have heard that I turned 40 last week,   I believe I might have mentioned it? I had a fantastic birthday day,  and a brilliant birthday party, but not being one to pass up an excuse to celebrate I continued for the whole week.  I *had* to, of course as my bestie was over from the UK and it would have been rude not to. Aaron had basically 'given' me a free pass to do whatever I wanted for the week (cashflow permitting!) so we did! A cocktail filled evening out in Protaras, at Zodiac, followed by Rockafellas watching the Ska Man . Followed by late night snacks and chocolate cake at gone 2am - well done for making cheese and ham toasties Nic and for my rose! Recovery day followed with a huge lunch in one of my favourite restaurants followed by back massages by the sea.  Friday continued with a chilled evening, nice home cooked dinner (thanks Aaron!)  and no alcohol in preparation for the big party day coming ...

You may remember that last year I went to Sirena Bay in Agia Triada after many years of never getting round to it.This year I finally got to go 'kid free' and enjoy it in a much more chilled out way! Our good friends Natalie and G AKA local rock and blues duo, Echo had their final performance at the venue they had spent so many years playing at,  and one that was very close to their hearts so it was a big night for them. This summer has been their last season together in Cyprus as today Mr G leaves to move back to England and I'm really sad to see him go and to know that Echo is no more. Apart from seeing them at Daxifest (where we were working) we knew it would be the last time we would get to see them play as due to us working again we wouldn't be able to make their last ever performance in Cyprus. It was a brilliant evening, which ended up with drinking vodka and dancing under the stars followed by Aaron and I gatecrashing G and Tony's dinner. ...

After promising to get back to blogging basics what better timing to join in with the Gallery for the first time in goodness knows how long, with the perfect prompt for the moment 'A younger me' Last week I had the surprise of my life when Aaron came home late Sunday night with my friend of 33 years!  I last saw her on my very short trip to England in February 2013 and the other time I went to the UK in August 2010. I constantly badger her to stay in contact via skype but hadn't thought for a second she would be able to actually come and visit, with family, work and voluntary commitments, plus the cost of flights, and the fact that she'd never traveled before, I always thought it was a far off possibility. Let me share with you, the younger 'us' From pre-school, to primary, secondary and then (briefly) college we did it all together. Five children between us, with her eldest and my youngest having almost a 17 year old age gap, makes no difference, a ...

You may have realised, especially if you know me in real life and have been on the receiving end of my often endless emails, texts and phone calls that I like to get people together. Parties, picnics, play dates you name it I've tried to arrange it! Why?  Because it's all about friendship, and when I was asked my best piece of advice for an expat, making friends was my reply. When you decide to live in another country for no apparent reason other than ‘because you can’ there are obviously lots of things to consider but there is one very important thing you need to do, it’s not deciding where to live, getting a job or learning the language although these are very good things to have on your ‘to do list’. The most important thing and my biggest piece of advice is to make friends. When you arrive in an unfamiliar place, in country where you don’t speak the main language, when you don’t know how to make a doctors appointment or how to get your car taxed, when you do...

Last week I flew back to England for four days, for the first time in nearly 3 years.  I left Aaron and the boys here, as Louka does not have a passport yet and it was going to be a whirlwind trip. I was very excited about it  and couldn't wait to see my friends again.  Over the time I was there I wasn't online much, although I did manage to keep up with my 365 project even though I took surprisingly few photos. Between us all we only ended up with one very blurry, and  unattractive picture of us all together which is not going to make it onto facebook let alone here! I shopped, I slept, I drank, talked and ate, and I was very cold! Overall it was fantastic few days and I wish I could have spent more time with the girls, but I could not handle that grey weather for much longer!   Apparently I missed some nicer days either side of my trip but it was pretty miserable the whole time I was there - cold, grey, wet and dark.   I must admit that although I...

In just three days time I'm leaving the boys behind for a whole five days and heading back to England all on my own to see my best girlies! It's been almost three years since I've been back and I'm so looking forward to it. It's going to be a busy few days as in that time I'm staying in three different places as I try to get to see all four of them but it should be lots of fun. Nic (top left) is my oldest friend as we went to playschool together 33 years ago!   Nic Nic, (how she will also be known to us, despite announcing many years ago she was now 'Niki', she can never be a 'Niki' to me!) used to live round the corner from me, she was one of the first to move away so from our twenties we didn't see as much of each other, maybe just two or three times a year - never made the slightest bit of difference though when we did meet up, it's always like we saw each other yesterday. I met Claire (top right) at secondary school but it w...

Back in July when I was still waddling around with my big baby bump my friend Sam threw a lovely Baby Shower for me . So when she announced that she was also expecting a baby my mind turned to making plans to return the compliment. Sam found out she was having a little boy so I had my colour scheme sorted but I was trying to think of what else I could do to make it special.  One day while changing Louka it came to me in a flash of inspiration.... Louka was wearing a star patterned babygrow and I happened to think that I'd have to keep that one for Sam as she loves anything and everything Starry. (well, and skulls but that's a much harder theme to work with!) So our 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Baby shower was conceived..... With a fantastic whip round from the girls, we had a fantastic amount of presents for Sam and the baby.  A play mat and arch as the main gift along with a whole host of 'baby essentials' - wipes, nappies, toiletries etc.  I also...