Lessons learnt this weekend

Saturday dawned a lovely bright sunny day.  I got up just before Paul, and let him have a bit of a lie in.  I sent the boys up to wake him just before 9, as we had sooooo much to do (people are going to get really bored of hearing me say that).  We managed to get a lot of stuff sorted, ready for the evening when we would have people sleeping in every bedroom.  As you can imagine prior to this our house was a tip, with stuff everywhere.  I like to think of it as organised chaos.

My mum and Lee arrived about 11.30am.  The plan was to go out for some food for Lunch.  First we had to wait for Sebastian to wake up....  He eventually woke about 1.15, so we headed to the Harvester down on Littlehampton seafront.  We had a nice meal, and everyone had desserts.  The boys didn't quite finish theirs, but they had a good go.  We finished by going for a short walk along the seafront and down the river.  Will miss it.  Although we don't go very often, it is still nice to know that it is there if we fancy it.

About an hour after we got home, the Tatums arrived with their kids.  Thank goodness it was a good day, so the adults were able to hide outside from the chaos that is 5 children under 6....  Our boys were tired, the  Tatums boys were tired, they were just feeding off each others excitement.  I got dinner on for the boys very quickly, they sat down to eat, whilst Paul and Paul supervised, and Nicola and I got ready to go out.  They finished their dinner and the 2 Pauls went to get some dinner for Nicola, Paul and Dave (Pauls Uni mate)  who arrived while they were at the fish and chip shop.  They ate their dinner after their youngest, Ethan had gone to bed.  By now Isaac and Seb were already asleep in our room, as the Tatums were having the boys room with their boys in the bunk beds and an airbed on the floor.  Oscar T went to bed shortly after, but when Nic and I were heading out the door at 7.30, both the Tatums boys were atill awake.  The men hung back, to be sure that all children were asleep.

Nic and I headed to the Empress for Paul and my leaving do.  The place was packed, as they were also having a charity event on that evening.  Luckily the owner T had put some reserved signs on some tables and Vicki was already there.  We got ourselves a drink and sat down.  Next to arrive were our next door neighbours, Chris and Gemma.  They were very lucky and had managed to get rid of their kids for the whole night!  Then Paul's work mates started to arrive, there was a fair few of them....  Then the mums from school, then Paul, Paul and Dave turned up, just as my 2 very good friends Laura and Suzie arrived with their other halves.  It was great to see them, especially as I hadn't seen Suzie for nearly a month.  So we got down to the serious business of drinking, and sat waiting expecting more of my friends to turn up.  Not one more did..... The school mums had to go, as they had things on, but it was so lovely of them to make the effort and come along.  Gonna miss you girls.....

A VERY drunk us....

Paul decided he wanted to make things 'interesting', so decided to get some shots in (Tariq and Tony, I fully blame you for Pauls renewed interest in shots).  So we all had a sambuca each.  Still no sign of anymore of my friends.  Vicki had to head home, she had left Paul on babysitting duties (so many Pauls), but she made me open her little pressie before she left.  Thank you sooooo much for the rock, postcard and fridge magnet.  The magnet will look fab on out huge fridge, and I have already packed it ready to go on the air freight.

By now I had already decided that most of the people who said they were coming, weren't.  So I got on it.  I sat down had great chats with Laura and Suzie, before they had to go.  Then I sat with Nic Chris and Gemma and drank lots of alcohol......  The drinks kept coming, and we stayed till the bar closed at 12.  Pauls workmates headed home, everyone staying in our house headed to our next door neighbours.  I got the contents of our alcohol cupboard from out house and took it round, where we continued to do various shots from egg cups.  I put Paul to bed about 1ish, Paul T put himself to bed about 12.30, and the rest of us kept drinking.

this morning was not fun.  The kids all woke about 6am.  Mum had to come and get Seb from our room as he was being really loud, and me and Paul were just sparko......  We got up about 9, after having a lengthy discussion, about why I had so few friends come the night before.  I was pretty p**sed off this morning.  I have calmed down now.  People have sent their apologies, but when I think about the fact that it is going to be a few years till I see some of these people it does make me sad.  I know a lot of people are going to read this and then laugh, cos that is what I would probably do. 

Mum and Lee left quite early, after taking down the paintings that will not fit in our boxes.  the walls seem strangely bare....    Us and the Tatums had breakfast.  Then they had to go.  Man that was hard.  These are good friends, Paul and Paul have known each other for 30 years.  I did well up.  if it was difficult to say goodbye to the Tatums, saying good bye to my good friends around here is going to be VERY hard.  Saying goodbye to family, I don't even want to think about that...

So this week coming..... we have the packers in on Wednesday to take all our stuff for air freight.  Our new suitcases should arrive by then, so once the air freight is gone we can start packing the rest of our stuff to take into the suitcases.  Next saturday we are off to my dads to deposit LOTS of things, then on to Birdworld.  My dad is flying my nan over, so it will be nice to see her.  Then on the sunday Mum and lee are down again.  They will be taking most of our suitcases back with them....

Its all happening now... 12 days and we will be in the states....