New pyjamas?

This evening we picked up this United shirt which a friend had bought for us while on holiday. Oliver immediately asked to wear it and after dinner asked whether he could wear it to bed. How could I refuse.

He has been a little star today. After an inauspicious start which involved repeatedly refusing to do as he was asked by his Mummy, he recovered to dress up nicely, behave well in church, play nicely at the party and even voluntarily go and lie down when he started to flag a little. He was rewarded with a ride on Daddy's bike and extra chocolate after dinner. Not to mention being told about a zillion times what a good boy he was and how proud we are of him. Oh, and I acted as his horse, down on my hands and knees crawling around the house, for 20 minutes before bathtime. And did his new favourite trick for him for as long as I could muster: throwing him into the air while spinning him through 180 degrees at the same time. We call it "the twizzle."

Here's the little man, asleep in his bed this evening, Big Julien at his side, in his new favourite pyjamas.

We are the champions!

To our delight, we won the Champions League final tonight in Moscow after a tense penalty shoot-out. We watched the game in a local pub with friends.

The victory comes on the back of winning the Premier League title on the last day of the season.

When we came home we found both children up and watching TV after waking and alarming our babysitter. But they were soon settled again, leaving us to try to absorb the victory.

That's my boy!

Oliver in his new United shirt.

Getting ready for the match!

Oliver, lucy and hayley are all in United shirts today.

Easter round-up

Good Friday



We opted for the traditional walk up Rivington Pike. The skies were blue and although it was cold we were well wrapped up.



Unfortunately the wind was strong once we were near the top and both children's attitude turned from cheery contentment to tears by the time we reached the summit. However, Oliver was somewhat appeased by me taking him to my friend Paul's house where he got to play on a large, electric ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine.



Saturday
We went to my Mum's annual Easter Egg hunt. The weather was still cold and now raining/snowing, so we were relieved when she had put a good number of the clues inside the house, specifically for Oliver and Lucy so they wouldn't have to go outside.

Lucy took the opportunity to improve her piano playing, while Oliver had anyone who would be lead by the hand join him at the "'puter" to play games on the Thomas and Friends website.

I also spent a fairly fruitless hour up at my sister's house trying to get a USB-wireless key to see a wireless router 3 feet away from it instead of the next door neighbour's router.

Easter Sunday
Hayley and I managed to go to see Man Utd vs Liverpool at Old Trafford (3-0 to Utd for the record). It was nice to finally get to a game and have some time to ourselves without the kids. We don't get much, but when we do it reminds us of who we were when we met and who we still are given half the chance!


Easter Monday
I took Lucy for a walk in the afternoon to try to get her to have an afternoon nap and to get me some fresh air. It was a sunny, clear, crisp and cold day. But by the time she had fallen asleep and I was at my furthest point from home, the clouds raced
in and it snowed on us, quite heavily. She was well wrapped up and under a rain cover so your truly was the only one with snow in his hair. Then it was off to another Easter Egg hunt, this time at the house of Oliver's friend Cara. Good fun. And rather nice Quorn sausage rolls too!

And that was it. Nothing spectacular but good fun nonetheless.

His latest flame?

Each morning one of us will knock on Oliver's door and then enter, wondering how he will greet us. As morning seems to be my allocated "popular" time-slot, he quite often says "Dada". Other days he balances things up with a "Mama".

This morning I was greeted by "Amber!", the name of his little friend who Hayley child-minds on Thursdays and Fridays. Then again this evening (a few minutes ago) he stirred from his sleep, sat up, said "Amber" then went back to sleep.

As Amber's Dad is an ardent City fan and our house is staunchly in the United camp, it remains to be seen how happy he'll be about having Oliver as her suitor. Especially as he already came round one day to find his daughter wearing a Oliver's United hat and my scarf.