visitors!

fri my BIL and E and M arrived!! woohoo!!! previously on friday, there was a significant amount of time spent tidying the girls room [AKA heavy duty parental shrieking~!] – and it looked way better for it! and sorting out books. SOme piano prac and rabbit care too, but mostly tidying and hoovering – including the latest influx of dead bees! We have a wild honeybee colony living at the top of our chimney in a disused pipe. they have been here for 5 years now – longer than anticipated as untreated for varroa, and about this time, all the ones not required for surviving over the winter die off, usually in our conservatory! haven’t seen them swarm the last 2 years, but loads of bee activity this year, so next year they might be strong enough as a colony.

Got lost there didn’t we! anyway, after a great deal of excited waiting, they arrived – cue screaming, racing around like loons etc etc!! unfortunately i had to go out to a leaving do of a v much loved and respected colleague – so much so that i did actually go. felt odd going out, as really not in the mood. and well, i felt a bit unsettled all the following day too. such is life!

so the next day, we set about having fun. lots of running about playing games, cuddling baby rabbits [a lot of that as E adores rabbits!], i had a craft, which will become available on playmerrily! but i couldn’t wait and bought from amazon, and it is really, really fab! we all had a great time doing them. i would recommend! hoping merry might stock birds of paradise one at some point [couldn't split the girly ones!] anyway, SB did the chinese one, BB the mexican, M the alaskan and E the australian.

they didn’t do it quite all in one sitting tho, we also had E and BB watch high school musical for a bit, playing sardines, doctor who, vets, more rabbit cuddling, collecting seeds and looking at them under the microscope – that was a huge hit actually, and various kids came back again and again to look at different things. M wanted to do the yeast experiment that we hadn’t done last time, so we did that, collected the carbon dioxide into balloons, and then proved was CO2. all v home ed! nice easy bed time for the kids. we adults played Alhambra, v much enjoyed. I had a single limoncello, and must have gone directly to my head, so we were never that sure of final scoring, so declared a draw, with much hilarity! [it seems to be v cheap on amazon at the mo!]

i tried a sleeping tab, not sure how it worked, tho did sleep thro, but left funny taste in mouth and then have had migraine today, not sure if related. uncertain whether to try again tonight. trying to get out of a month of sleeplessness into a better position, as that might help me move on a bit.

SO today we decide to do a bit of cobweb blowing and go for a walk. not entirely the best decision as BB suffering from 2 minimal sleeps and on a knife edge for self control… BIL was interested in the idea of geocaches – and gadgets! Anyway, we were aided by finding all 3 of the caches we looked for, and they all had swaps too. made the kids find it v fun. we placed SB’s travelbug in there, and hope it travels well. There was a really, really muddy bit tho, so wellies def required wear!
We nearly went for a 4th, M and SB v keen, but BB had a major wobble cos E had chosen the thing she wanted… and then E getting a bit tired walking, so turned back. good thing too, as started to rain as we got to cars, so this way did it as a fun highpoint rather than a chore!!

we got home, they left and i collapsed with the migraine that had been worsening. Chris and SB played a fab game of alhambra,which she v enjoyed, and BB fell asleep infront of tv and i slept for 5 hours! when woke up, realised the pain in my soul was worse, that i had enjoyed the weekend, but that there was no Vivien in it. no sister ever again. And it hit me anew, that i was bereft. so i struggled this eve. lots of snuggles from girls whilst watching a birds dvd. And SB wrote me such a beautiful letter that i cried and nearly made her sad, but i told her it was because it was so precious and i loved her lots. love my girls x x

vivien, i miss you, and nothing will ever change that, but you would be proud of how well your kids and stewart are doing, and we had a fun weekend of laughter and camaraderie, and hopefully there will v many more to come.