My week that was [7/8]

Well, it’s been a busy couple of weeks!

As we spent Week 7 fighting with the after effects of Nemo and planning for our UK trip and Week 8 in the UK with no Internet access until the Friday evening, I didn’t manage to link up Week 7, so I thought I’d do two weeks for the price of one instead…!

Week 7
Monday
We had a snow day as the roads and, particularly, the pavements weren’t clear enough yet for it to be safe to get to school, so we had a nice family day.

Tuesday
First day back at school after the snow… Hubby took the 6yo to school and my neighbour looked after the wee girl while the 3yo and I slipped our way to preschool – we ended up walking most of the way on the road! The wee girl and I stayed home as we were without the car and the pavements were still not passable by buggy. Picked the boys up from school, which took twice as long as usual having to negotiate the really snowy pavements!

Wednesday
This was the day that the snow and ice almost defeated me; I hate the snow!

Thursday
Valentines day! This isn’t normally a huge deal in our house, but we discovered that it is a big deal in the States! Last minute teacher gifts, valentines cards for classmates, candy… The kids had a great time! Hubby and I had a lovely quiet evening with the requisite bottle of pink fizz and chocolate!

Friday
My husband had a meeting in Boston at lunchtime, so we decided to use the unexpected free morning and finally apply for my social security number. All straightforward thankfully, but immigration had managed to write my birthdate down incorrectly when we arrived in the States last summer, so it could now take several weeks to sort that out and actually get my social security number! A friend was supposed to be coming over for the afternoon, which I was really looking forward to as I hadn’t seen her properly for ages, but her husband had managed to take her car keys to work with him, so she was stranded at home :( Pizza night for us as usual, and I started to think that I should maybe start packing for flying to the UK for a weeks holiday the following day…!

Saturday
Hubby took all three kids to the boys swimming classes and I managed to get us all packed and ready to go while they were out. Admittedly I had lots of lists, but I gave myself a pat on the back for getting it done without too much fuss :) I still should have started it days ago though! You can read about our journey here. Suffice to say, after starting out well it went rapidly downhill, but thankfully ended without any further disasters!

Sunday
Another day of travelling, but so nice to find ourselves back in Edinburgh by the afternoon. We saw my mum for a bit in the afternoon – lovely :) An early night followed – getting ourselves ready for the hectic four days to follow. The project manager in me had timetabled them before we arrived!

Week 8
What follows is a potted version of the week – it has been very busy! I have a few other posts planned… Thankfully it all calmed down a bit once we arrived in Ireland :)
Monday
We had set aside Monday for visiting my grandmother, so that she could see her great-grandchildren. Having fully intended to be there by lunchtime, we decided to ‘pop’ to the shops on the way… To be fair, we had to get photos printed to give to Great Granny, but we probably didn’t need to also fit in Toys R Us and Clarkes… We arrived 45 minutes late and went to the wrong house – we generally meet at my Aunts, but no one had thought to tell me that we weren’t this time. Admittedly I hadn’t asked either! A further 20 minutes passed before my uncle told us we should be at my grans… Thankfully a lovely afternoon was had by all, lots of laughs and the kids were in brilliant form – and we managed to leave with no tears shed.

Tuesday
The morning was spent catching up with one of my oldest friends, K – catching her four days before she moves to Australia! I’m so glad that I managed to see her and that she saw the kids before she headed off – not sure when we’ll next manage to speak face to face without the aid of Skype or FaceTime :( While I stayed chatting to K, hubby took the boys to a soft play (something we haven’t managed to find in the States yet). We then had a lovely lunch in Pizza Express – at the request of the 6yo! In the afternoon we took the 6yo to pick up his best friend from school. This gave him a chance to see all his friends from last year – he had a great time running around the playground with them – and I had fun catching up with the mums! He then spent the afternoon with his friend, definitely his priority for the trip. The rest of us spent the afternoon with my mum before picking the 6yo up.

Wednesday
The morning was spent back at the soft play, this time to see a friend and her daughter, who the 6yo and I met at a baby group when we he was all of 8 weeks old! The morning stretched into lunch, at which point another friend, R, joined us :) I said it was a packed four days! R is currently living in our house, so after a coffee and a wander, we headed back to the house – hubby taking the boys to spend the afternoon with Granny as we felt that seeing our house would be a bit too strange for them. It was odd seeing the house – it’s the same but different, and really interesting to see how other people use spaces differently. Hubby came to pick me up and we grabbed a few things from the attic (!?) before heading off to rescue Granny!

Thursday
A day for shopping with my mum! Marks & Spencer, I have missed you :) The afternoon was spent packing – hoping that none of our bags would exceed our strict Ryanair limits… I then went out for a drink with R – yay! I haven’t been out for a long time, since well before we left for the States, so that was a bit of a novelty in itself, but it was lovely to spend a bit more time with R, drinking a little too much wine and having a proper natter. I miss that a lot.

Friday
We had an early start, checking out and heading to the airport for a 9.30am flight to Dublin. This was as uneventful and stress free as a flight with Ryanair can be… We spent the afternoon catching up with a good friend of my husbands and his family before heading to the hotel to check in (fabulous adjoining rooms!).

Saturday
Saturday was all about family. My husband has three brothers and them, their wives and kids plus my in-laws and us now amounts to 21 people… Chaotic and loud, but also a lot of fun. My boys were thrilled to see all their cousins. We had a lovely family dinner in the evening, my brother in law rustling up dinner for 21 without so much as batting an eyelid!

Sunday
Did a bit more shopping the in the morning (has to be done!) and then headed to a different brothers for a family lunch. Another chaotic and loud event!

Please hop on over to Real Housewife of Suffolk County to check out her blog, how to link up and see how hers, and others, weeks went!