Twenty Years.

Last night the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate the fact that Fixit and I have been together for twenty years. (I think this means we must have started going out when we were children, because twenty whole years can't possibly be right! Not when I'm still this young.)  The actual anniversary (of the party where he was brought along to be 'set-up with someone' and that someone totally got to give him their phone number by the end of the night) is on Friday, which is also my birthday, but I am nicking off early Friday morning to Craft Camp for the long weekend.  (Best birthday treat I could have, Craft Camp. Fabulous company, food, drink and crafting, plus a bath and a massage planned.  I am only sad that we won't be joined by a treasured member of our clan this weekend, owing to family circumstances.)

Anyway. We had a lovely time out at a local groovy Vietnamese restaurant last night. The food was delicious and the kids were excellent company. Impressively, Cherub was able to spot yet another poisoning attempt on his life before it came to pass, and politely-but-firmly declined the waitress' offer of chocolate or strawberry topping on his plain vanilla ice-cream.  These would-be assassins must be so frustrated with Cherub's vigilance.

And twenty years, hey? Twenty really good years: lots of laughter, lots of kindness, lots of pleasure in each others' company.  Annoyances and spats, yes, because living with other people brings that in its wake. (And men can be so annoying.)  But always there for each other through illness and adversity and challenge and change.  We never got married and set it out in public that we would do this, but we have.  And best of all we can share the love with our two gorgeous boys, who light up our lives every day.  So Happy Anniversary Mister Fixit.  Here's to the next twenty xxx.

I had it all planned out.

My first ever post on this blog was about taking the boys swimming. So, I thought, I'll mark my first anniversary of blogging with a post on taking the boys swimming. I even took photos at the pool on Friday (and was spoken to by the lifeguard re making sure I didn't have any other children in my photos. Yeah, like I want anonymous brats in photos of my darlings.).

And in my great plan, I thought I could reflect on the highlights of my year of blogging ...

... but when I thought about it, I realised that my life and therefore my blog are quite tame. (Which is fine by me!)

Yes, I had an iron transfusion, a scary birthday and got through Climber's first year of school and love affair. I recorded for posterity the terrible year we had during my pregnancy with Cherub. But in terms of my plan, man, it just didn't seem to be worthy of a great deal of reflection.

Because this blog, it's just my family, in writing, so that my useless long-term memory will have a better chance of remembering this delicious time of my life.

Nontheless, I still think I ought to take time to state that I am so glad I started doing this. I love that I've taken lots of photos and written down the funny stories, I love that I've found all these other blogs to visit (do you see the length of my sidebar??) and actually met some of my fellow bloggers. I love that I am writing again, split infinitives, lax grammar and all. And this year of blogging, seriously; is that all it's been? I feel like like I've been blogging forever, like I'm such an old hand at this now. Weighing it all up, it seems valid to do an anniversary post, to commemorate a year of doing something that I enjoy so much, and will be, I hope, a treasured record to Fixit, the boys and me in the years to come.

BUT....

It turns out that, true to form, I actually MISSED the anniversary of starting this blog. July 17th 2006 was my first ever post, not July 29th. Like my 100th post, it came and went and I found out later. What can I say? I'm not great with dates.


But what the hell. Won't you wish me a belated happy blog anniversary? And if you've ever lurked here and never said hello, then surely a belated first blog-versary is the time to introduce yourself.

Hearts & flowers

Mother's Day tomorrow. Which is something that always seemed like a marketing ploy to sell a whole lot of slippers and domestic equipment, not to mention flowers. But I know tomorrow when Climber proudly presents me with the little gifts he's been organising over the last week and both boys climb into bed to give me a kiss and a cuddle (mind out for my cup of tea darlings!) I won't be thinking cynical thoughts. I'll be bursting with love for these two tremendous children of mine who make my heart swell each day with the immense love I have for them and who make me a happy happy woman every day, not just on Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, with extra special love to my mother Margaret and Fixit's mother Elaine.