A pair of football trainers, 1 coloured pencil, 2 table tennis bats, 1 miniature table tennis table, a postcard depicting 5 happy pigs, 1 Roald Dahl book – Danny The Champion of the World, 1 Top Gear book, 1 LEGO Ninjago sword, 1 stuffed bear, 1 cardboard tube, 3 Moshi Monster trading cards, 1 ruler.

Out of everything it’s the Roald Dahl book that I am most annoyed about.  The shame.  Why couldn’t she have eaten those hideously boring rainbow fairy chapter books?

On Sunday I was working at the kitchen table when The Teenager suddenly exclaimed “Wow, look at that light”. I looked up to see a bright orange glow coming in through the kitchen skylight.

Running upstairs, standing on the toilet seat and hanging out of a window I got this … a flaming sky.

This picture was taken, on Saturday, at a drinking establishment called Fanny’s (yes, really) where there was much merriment. I have laughed, cried, shared joy and misfortune with all of these people over the years. They have been there for me when I have needed them most and I like to think I have been there for them too. I consider myself very lucky to have friends like these.

Starting at the top (left to right) we have Ellie, Me, Liz, Erica, Mel, Becky, Tara …. then Erica again (she gets everywhere), My Sister and Mel (again).

I took this photo on North Berwick beach in Scotland last year. That rock in the background is the Bass Rock which is covered in gannets, 150,000 of them!

This week, the gloomy cold weather has taken it’s toll and, I’ve been looking back and thinking about that one happy day in August where we pottered on the beach in our shorts and took a boat ride round the Bass Rock and discovered how bad gannet poo smells.

Now go and take a look at the other landscapes in the gallery this week …

This photo is of the 5 year old at Easter.  Our Scottish friends were staying with us and we spent Easter weekend surrounded by friends and family having fun. The 5 year old had just fallen over and had hurt himself.  A minute before it was taken he was crying, he’d fallen over, but our Scottish friend who is out of the shot was pulling faces.

Today the 5 year old will have his third … yes THIRD ear operation.  He’s having grommets fitted again and having his adenoids taken out.

In a few hours I will stand in the white room, holding my apprehensive boy’s hand, as the anesthesiologist tells him to count to ten.  I know that he’ll only get to four, that he will be fast asleep before he gets the chance to say “five”, clutching Lulu and I know that he will be safe and well looked after.  As I look at him on that bed being wheeled through to the operating theatre my eyes will prick and my heart will cry out to hold my little boy and keep him close.  I’ll pace up and down outside the operating theatre thinking of that day in Easter … my little boy with his happy face and his big spirit and I’ll know that everything will be OK.

Peanut, the dog, is 9 this month, which is 63 in human years.

In the last year she’s started showing her age;  She has white beard, not a good look on a lady; She gets up slowly; Her breath smells as if she is decomposing from the inside out; She sleeps for longer and oh my god the farts … they are getting worse, if that’s possible.  Funnily enough in human years she’s the same age as my Dad, Gramps.  I must ask him if he’s experiencing similar problems.

I felt so sad about her OAP status that I googled ‘how long do labradors live for?’ . I know, I know, SIT ON YOUR HANDS … but I couldn’t. So facts are facts … and Google is never wrong.  She has a maximum of 4 years left.  That sliding noise?  That’s me on the slipping into denial.

The same day I  went to the supermarket with the children.  There was a Dog’s Trust stand outside the entrance.  Both children took great interest in the stand until I ushered them on. The 7 year old asked if we could get a puppy.  I explained that one dog was enough, but that when Peanut died, a long long long long time from now (did I tell you that I’m in denial?), we would probably get another dog. Later at home the 5 year old was snuggling up to the dog, using her as a pillow.  He stroked her,  “It’s OK, Peanut, we’ll get a puppy when you die” he said … lovingly.

She’s a bloody pain sometimes.  The moulting drives The Husband to distraction and whatever you are trying to do in the house she is there in the way, asleep, like a giant log, but I know that our house will be a very sad place without her.

I wonder how much it costs to stuff a large labrador?

This weekend I travelled to London for Cybermummy 2011, the biggest parent blogging conference in the UK.  The weekend started at about 9.30 on Friday morning when I was picked up and didn’t end until 8pm on Sunday when I rolled out of the car slightly worse for wear.  I can safely say that I won’t be mixing pear cider, gin-in-a-tin, mojitos, champagne and wine, again,  any time soon.

This picture was taken at approximately ten to two on Sunday morning.  We are in the lift, just leaving the bar to go to bed, in the Travelodge.  The Travelodge lift has created a new temperature.   We have Freezing, Cold, Normal, Warm, Hot, Sahara and Travelodge Lift. Sweaty Betty.

We’re all laughing … I can’t even remember what about, but that doesn’t matter.  This picture sums up, for me, a weekend where I chased/stalked/loved/kissed/hugged/prodded friends old and new and laughed until I could laugh no more.  That last bit is actually a lie. There is always room for more laughter which was proved on our journey home.

From left to right: Rachael (who is a better gurner than me), Mel, Me, Erica (crying) and Ellie. Thank you to Tara Lara who took the picture.

My daughter will turn seven in just over a week.  Oh my god.

Seven, it’s another year closer to eight, nine and ten. Ten is only three years away from thirteen.

I think I need a lie down.

Every day I see more flashes of the big girl she’s going to be. It makes me feel panicky sometimes. I can still remember holding her for the first time as if it were yesterday and now I’m performing tooth fairy duties and discussing the finer points of telephone etiquette when ringing her friend down the road to talk about Club Penguin.

She’s a little girl who loves to eat her body weight in cherries, dangle upside down, write lists, read and read and read. She worries about things, things she shouldn’t worry about. She likes to play hide and seek and look after others.  She’s a sensitive, thoughtful soul with the biggest twinkle in her eye and she does a wicked Sid James laugh.

Here are my favourite pictures of her this year. Seven … oh my god.

It’s been a funny old month.  With a mix of bank holidays, school holidays, weddings, celebrations and general gatherings.

The children returned to school today after another extended bank holiday weekend, full of confusion about what day it is.  In three weeks they break up again and in four weeks we go on our long awaited holiday.

I can’t remember the last time we had such a fun packed month.  I look back on April and feel all warm and fuzzy. We are so very blessed when it comes to friends and family.

I wanted to try and sum up April in one photograph.  I wanted something which included each and every person who made this month awesome but that was impossible.  I kept coming back to this photograph.

The laughter in my boys eyes sums up April perfectly.

When my Mum died I lost a huge chunk of my childhood along with her.  In grief and pain I erased a huge portion of my life.

When my children were born panic set in. I was terrified that I would forget things about their childhood, that should something happen to me they would lose some of our precious memories.

Now I don’t worry about that, because we have my blog. My children have a way back.  They have a little path charting the ups and downs and seemingly insignificant details of our lives. (Click the image to see it larger!)

That means everything to me.