A good start to the weekend

I broke my cardinal rule today and woke BOTH kids from their naps! All for a good cause though as it was the school Christmas ('artisan') fair.

Leila woke in a good mood and was happy enough to get dressed (she naps in her vest and leggings to stop overheating) and get in the buggy. I told her we were going to "tick tock" but didn't want to tell her we might see Santa just in case we didn't get there in time.

Edward had been napping fitfully and I'd finally got him settled, so I didn't know how he would respond to being 'got up' and popped into the sling. Amazingly he opened his eyes a bit but essentially stayed asleep... until we sat down for dinner (but more on that later)

I decided to take the tiny buggy as it meant I'd be able to jump on the bus if it came. In the end no bus went past us as we walked up to school and the traffic was crawling along so I definitely did the right thing.

When we got to school Scotty was outside and Leila was so excited to meet him. She got out of the buggy and loved running through the school grounds. Inside the fair she was a little overwhelmed but warmed up seeing some familiar faces.

We then went down to Santa's Grotto. Leila had time to do a craft activity before it was her turn. I think she was a bit shocked at first on seeing him, and poor Santa as it was like getting blood out of a stone getting her to talk! She eventually spoke about her new Santa car book and said that she liked doggies and trains. We didn't quite manage the usual 'cheese' grin(mace) out of her for the photo, but at least we got one. And it's a cracker to have her wearing her Christmas cardie that her great nanny knitted her!

It was then the raffle draw and our luck was in as Scott won a hamper. The hamper theme was "beers of the world" so we really lucked out with that!

Scott then dashed off on his bike to get to his  doc appointment.  He'd had an initial appointment a week ago and a folllow-up sinus x-ray this week. At the appointment they were finally able to diagnose chronic sinusitis - a relief really to know what has been causing him his debilitating headaches and that they can provide some treatment to help.

While Scott was at the docs we started to walk back. We weren't going home for tea though, but instead dropped into the Tecadre Beirhalle again to have German beer and sausage for tea.  We'd been pondering another pub meal and luckily Sally and Jim were in the mood for one too and so they joined us.  It was great to have some adult conversation and to relax with friends; it helps that they are great and happy to entertain Leila too. We tried to remedy the sausage ordering this time, but managed to over-order instead. Not too much of a problem although this does all make us realise we would struggle to move back to a muslim country again!

We were home after bathtime which upset Edward, but we managed to pull things along quickly and both were in bed before 8pm still.  We then had a night in front of the telly!