A Matter of Choice

October is a favourite month of mine, it starts of still being ever so hot, and soon cools enough to spend time in the sun without feeling like you are going to melt! We started the month with the Daxifest Charity Festival,   we were working with the Photo Booth and it was nice to be able to let the boys see what we did and get them to help out a little bit - well, they mainly left us and played on the bouncy castles but at least they were in Klik t-shirts! It was my birthday month, and I celebrated the last of my 30's with a girls breakfast on my birthday morning as I had to work that evening,  followed by a belated night on the following weekend. The boys and I enjoyed a great 'Ochi Day' watching the parade in the village for the first time and then having a day out on the beach followed by lunch in our favourite family restaurant. We ended the month with some great Halloween celebrations,  both planned and almost accidental! Cyherbia's Halloween ...

Our summer is long here in Cyprus, not only because of the heat, but also the fact that the schools close for 13 weeks and the summer holiday starts in mid June.  Add that to the fact that for most people I know here it is the busiest time of year where many people get very few days off, if any at all.  (Aaron, like many here do, used to work 7 days a week from April to November) We are very lucky to have had lots of work this year but in a way that we got to enjoy the summer as well. In July we had a great family day out at Cyprus Land in Limassol  and combined it with a trip to the Mall, bowling and dinner on the way home.  It's not often we do a 'big' day out like this which makes it all the more special and memorable when we do. There was of course tons of swimming, both in our shared pool at home and out at various hotels with friends and the obligatory ice creams treats! Leo had started Taekwondo lessons in June and was so excited to finally get his...

Continuing with my flashback posts of 2016 (you can find part 1 here ) we are moving onto April, when apparently I declared that Summer was beginning and we had several Sunday afternoons down at our new favourite beach . We went exploring again and rediscovered the 'secret cave'  at the Agia Napa Aqueduct, in fact we went twice meeting friends there the second time for a picnic.  I declared that I was going to get back to ' blogging on the balcony' and I really believed it,  although I didn't take into account that we were approaching 'Wedding season' here in Cyprus and we were about to be working more than ever before! April is always the time when the island starts to wake up again, and Carnival kicks it all off!  I wrote about how it was my favourite time of the year .  May May was a great month, it is of course Leo's birthday, and this year to celebrate his turning 7 we had a Star Wars party. But it was also...

After a month of chocolate for breakfast and increasing excitement Christmas day finally dawned. I really hadn't slept well - I was so convinced that one of the boys would wake up and demand to get up at some stupid hour that I was waking up with every little noise all night long.  I heard Leo go to the bathroom at 5:30am and was expecting him to come in, or at least go and look to see the presents but he went straight back to bed! Eventually I heard Louka come out and as I lay listening for the reaction Leo jumped out of bed to show him and explain.  I walked down the hall and loved hearing Leo show Louka that Santa had eaten the mince pies and drank the 'Maximoki'  (it's their name for Whisky - I have no idea where it came from!) The boys had been desperately hoping for Lego Dimensions, which was literally the only thing they asked for.  I had asked many times if there was anything else they would like and both would look at me blankly in reply. The only ...

If in doubt, get out!   I have no idea if someone once said that to me or if it just popped into my head but I've decided its a good phrase when it comes to deciding what to do.   I've never been very good at just getting out the house with the boys, always over thinking it - too hot, too cold?  Too windy?   Will the weather change?   Will we be hungry?  Should we eat first, take a picnic?   Are we too tired? Will the kids have fun or just moan at me?  - you get the idea! As I mentioned in my last post, I was suffering from 'Crimbo Limbo'  (yes I am just making random things up now!)   We hadn't left the house in days, I was missing the excitement and anticipation of Christmas and there was far too much pyjama wearing, Xbox playing and chocolate eating going on for me to to stay sane. The problem had been that it had been raining on and off for almost a week, dry spells have been very short lived and I'm sure the sun has only been...

What a difference a week makes, this time last week seems like a lifetime ago. On Thursday the boys broke up from school and we had our usual pre-Christmas get together with our friends at our house.  This year the Dad's joined us (well, once they had got back from the pub) and everyone stayed for dinner and board games. Friday was the first day of the holidays,  I spent the morning with a bit of a fuzzy head from the previous nights Christmas spirits and recovered in time for our girls night out dinner.     Leo was excited not only about it being almost Christmas but his Taekwondo grading that evening for his yellow belt. Saturday was Christmas Eve! I love Christmas Eve - full of excitement and anticipation. The boys spent the  morning watching Christmas cartoons and some colouring., we all played a bit of 'Christmas Bingo'. Apart from a quick pop to the shops for last minute baking ingredients and one present to wrap we were all ready for ...

At the end of 2015 I wrote a series of blog posts looking back over the year and tried to play catch up on the many things I'd not got round to writing about as they happened.   Full of optimism I went into January 2016 hoping to keep up but somewhere along the way I forgot!   I even briefly considered stopping blogging altogether. Looking back I'm pleased though that I didn't and still wrote 52 posts, a few less than last year but not a bad amount for the year.  I'm sure I will never go back to the numbers of the early days,  although I did kind of hope to beat last year in a completely pointless competition with myself.  So,  2016....everyone's saying it was a terrible year but for us it was a good one.   January I was, as I am most years, eager to get on with the year once Christmas and New Year's Eve is over.  I love Christmas but I enjoy the run up to it and by the end of December its onwards and upwards. Decorations down, to...

It's the last day of school today and I'm quite excited about it!  I always am at the end of term, summer and winter, it reminds me of the end of term excitement we used to have.  Even though there is a small part of me remembering that it means I don't have my mornings to work in, I love school holidays, especially now the boys tend to let me stay in bed until 8am! I started this month with a massive to-do list, which I not only managed to to lose like I normally do, I actually completed it.   Well pretty much, apart from making cookies.  I had told the boys I'd make cookies for them to decorate and haven't done that but they were quite happy to be told we could do it in the holiday.  I do love a list, especially a Christmas related one, shopping, wrapping, and baking are all enjoyable for me at this time of year.  (It only lasts through December then the novelty wears off for another year!)   We now have Mince pies, Onion Marmalade, Lemon Cu...