A change is as good as a rest, so they say

The husband and lad flew down to Wanaka today to go skiing.  The twins are asleep and I'm sitting in front of a plate full of cheese, crackers and olives and a bottle of bubbles.  The TV's silent, I have got Lydia Cole on the ipod, the fire on and I have two girlfriends making tracks in my direction.  WELCOME TO GIRLWORLD.

As much as I love being all together as a little family, I am excited for lad and the husband to get some time together in a place dear to the husband's heart.  Equally, I am loving being with my little girls.  I have been looking forward to our week of change.  It will do each of us good and help us to appreciate each other all the more (that's the way I'm having it play out in my mind, anyway).

I like a good dose of variety

In a couple of weeks the husband is taking lad down to Wanaka to go skiing.  Some of his family will be there and there is a big nostalgic pull for him too; when I first clapped eyes on the handsome chap he was living in Wanaka so he's excited about seeing his old friends and introducing his son to them.  Twin1, twin2 and I will stay at home and I'm looking forward to the simplicity of eating baked beans on toast at 5pm with the two of them and devoting some attention (not the screaming, angry mother kind but rather the cuddly, mummy and daughter kind) on each of them.

The husband and I are used to being apart and while I always miss him, I love the change of dynamic brought about by venturing off to do our own things with the children.  I like change.  My brain gets itchy if I stay in the same place for more than a few years.  From birth my family moved house every 1 to 3 years as my dad was posted to different RAF bases around the world.  I always felt very settled and happy.  Home was wherever my mum and dad were.

If you could take a year off and live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Roll on next Christmas

Yesterday the husband went over to a friend's house with twin2 and the lad. I stayed at home with twin1 while she had a nap. When they all came home the husband was rosy cheeked and full of vim. "Next Christmas, my darling, will be in England" he announced.

Now I know thay we have only just pulled down the Christmas decorations and found places for the myriad multicoloured plastic gadgets Father Christmas lobbed down the chimney but I am now sooooooooo excited about next Christmas. The last cold Christmas I had was in 2005 and it was an awesome one. It was the first Christmas with the husband (who was then 'the boyfriend') and we got engaged that New Year's Eve in Austria under the falling snow and sparkling fireworks.

All I can think of is wearing boots and coats and scarves, walking to the pub and stomping your feet in front of an open fire clutching a mug of steaming mulled wine. Spending Christmas with my parents in their lovely family home with my own little family will be fantastic. My brother and his wife won't be there as they will be running their cosy, beautiful chalet in Chamonix (if you fancy a holiday go to http://www.ice-break.co.uk/). Having them there really would be the icing on the cake but it's a good excuse to go over and ski. Ooh yeah baby roll on next Christmas.