We can't quite believe where this year has gone but already it is the beginning of December and time to start thinking about Christmas cards and our annual Christmas blog post! So, here is a brief summary of what we have been up to this year:
In January, we welcomed a new addition to the family...a little kitten called Luna. She was an extremely adorable, soft and loving cat, who loved coming for cuddles and being tickled and we all fell in love with her instantly. Also in January, a very proud Adam received his Chief Scouts Bronze Award.
In March we celebrated Adam's 7th birthday (he asked for Minion cupcakes) and spent a lovely day at Fee's cousin Sally's wedding. Afterwards, Fee's brother Keith and his family stayed with us for a few days. Lucy and Adam loved playing with their cousin Ethan and we were reminded of what life with a toddler is like!
In April Lucy took part in a production of Annie with her theatre school, which was brilliant. For Easter weekend, our canoe club organised a paddle and 'Easter helmet' competition. We all enjoyed a day paddling down the river, playing rounders and searching for eggs. Later that month, Fee finally got her 40th birthday present from Brian - a Segway experience. We both had a great time travelling around the trails in Thetford Forest.
May was a fairly quiet month as Fee's hip was becoming quite painful but we managed a trip to London to watch Brian run in the London 10km race, followed by a ride on the London Eye.
In June we celebrated our friends Sian and Usman's wedding in Devon. Despite a bit of drizzle in the morning, it turned out to be a glorious day, and everyone had a great time consuming Devon Cream teas, bouncing on the bouncy castle and Bollywood dancing! June was also Biggleswade Carnival, and saw Lucy and her friends dressed as Disney characters, dancing and singing their way around the procession route.
In July Fee had a major operation on her hip, to try and realign the pelvis to create a better socket for the femur. Faced with spending 3 months on crutches, we decided to invest in a 2nd hand wheelchair so we could still enjoy some family days out over the summer. Brian quite enjoyed pushing Fee around and being able to take control; Fee, on the other hand, got rather frustrated. Still, it did have its plus points, and namely that we got disabled rates at some of the places we visited!Before the holidays began we watched the kids in their sports days and saw Lucy star in her end of Lower School play as the Cobra Goddess. We also had to say an emotional goodbye to Luna the cat, who very sadly got run over :( She brought a lot of fun to our family during her short life, and we will never forget her.
We had a fairly quiet August summer holiday, but we did manage to visit the Bedford River festival, Beaconscot Model Village, Paradise Wildlife Park and a 40th birthday BBQ in Northamptonshire. Lucy and Adam also spent a week with Granma and Granpa in Bristol, and Lucy took part in a week's theatre school, culminating in a performance of Shrek the musical, in which she played the part of 'Teenage Princess Fiona.'
In September, Lucy started at Middle School, which she is loving. She has taken advantage of the many opportunities on offer and now does cheerleading, gym club and is busy rehearsing for the Christmas pantomime. Adam is enjoying being in year 3, although is not so enamoured with the extra homework! He also started keyboard lessons, which he really enjoys. Lucy celebrated her 10th birthday party with a 'sleepover' and fun party games (including wrap the mummy) although not much sleeping took place and we had a very grumpy girl the following day!
By October half term, Fee was able to walk with just 1 crutch, so we were determined to make up for the fact that we hadn't done much during the summer holidays and had a busy week: first was a trip to see the poppies at the Tower of London, then a night away in Leicestershire, visiting the National Space Centre and Twinlakes Theme Park. Then, of course, it was Halloween and all the usual fun of 'trick or treating'. The kids are still eating up their sweets now!
In November Lucy decided that 5 years of cerise pink walls was enough so we decorated Lucy's bedroom as an early Christmas present. She now has a lot more storage so no excuse for not being able to keep her room tidy!
And that brings us to December. We have all the usual end of term events to look forward to...Christmas plays and pantos, carol services, Christmas dinners and parties, and Fee is having another op on 16th December to remove the screws in her pelvis. (Good excuse to put my feet up over Christmas!) We're off to Bristol this year to spend it with Fee's side of the family and will catch up with Brian's side when we get back.
We hope you all have a joyous festive season, whatever you are doing, and wish you all the best for a happy and prosperous 2015!
Lots of love from
The McCuskers. xx
