Hi and happy Monday. For the first time in a while, it feels like it’s been a long week.

Last week involved: meetings, Christmas prep, Children in need, a working lunch, Tappy Toes, Toddlers, admin, time in the Hub, Rainbows, two evening meetings and two nights out!

Ministry: I feel like I’m starting to get my groove back. Services are going well and I designed and ordered 5000 Christmas leaflets to distribute around the parish!

Mum life: school admin is full on. Forms, payments, non-uniform days, donations, photo day, home work on YouTube, homework on the app, online reading books… it’s bananas.

Sophia loves it though. She came home with a certificate on Friday which said ‘good friend of the week’! I was very proud.

I had a great time on Wednesday and Sunday. I went to an event in Formby about Tropic, which I love, and I also caught up with a friend from Lullababy on Saturday night. I feel much more myself and I’m grateful to Nathan for having the kids.

Our day off: a children’s birthday party at a farm. I had an interesting conversation with Sophia about her attire:

Me: let’s choose you clothes for the party.

S: I’ll wear a dress.

Me: you’re going to a farm.

S: I’m going to a party.

Me: but it’s on a farm.

S: I wear dresses to parties. I’ll wear a dress.

Me: what about trousers you can get wet and dirty, and a skirt over the top?

S: OK. My Christmas skirt?

Me: no, not your Christmas skirt. How about this blue skirt.

S: okaaaay.

What Aidan said: A-din! Again. Nathan had just stopped throwing him up in the air, so he definitely meant ‘again’! He also said: ‘ope when holding a pot with a lid, so I think he meant open.

What Nathan said: ‘It’s either toddler behaviour, teenage behaviour, general woman-hood or extreme post-modernism!’ I’ll leave you to guess which argumentative person he was talking about!

Highlight: feeling confident enough to go out to an event on my own, and leaving with new friends having had a lovely time! Admittedly, we all had a love of Tropic in common, but I’m still very pleased with that one!

What I’m especially grateful for: nothing in my diary clashes with Sophia’s first Christmas play.

Coming up: St Giles Christmas fair and… WICKED!