More of the same

And lo! again it is the weekend. January disappeared in a flash of activity (slightly grey and soggy activity, but that's Edinburgh in January for you) and February is shaping up to run through my fingers in the same way. Friday night though, I must admit, was fun in its own way. Husband was staying back late at the office (don't be too impressed - he was staying to eat pizza and talk about guitars with the teenage son of a friend of ours!) so I was left to my own devices.

I baked chocolate muffins, having taken a quick straw poll amongst the gathered small boys (some of whom were even mine) and muffins having won said election. I refereed the small boy fights which broke out and threw out the bodies that didn't belong to me when it got late. I got to read more of the "eh, so-so" story to my two at bedtime. It is picking up slightly but we are all agreed it is not the best book we have ever tackled. And then, when the little people were at least pretending to be asleep I curled up with a bowl of my lentil and chickpea curry (yummy and you can eat LOADS of it for not too many calories) and the episode of Torchwood husband recorded for me on Wednesday. (I know how to play stuff on the PVR but not how to record it. That's what Husband is for. Amongst other things.) Then when Husband arrived home, we spent a lovely hour or two researching The Wii, How It Works and Where To Get One, as First Born has asked for one for his birthday and we are clueless, being a Playstation/Xbox free home at present. We know how to have a good time, huh?

Saturday I hit the supermarket early, Second Born and I hit a toyshop to buy a stuffed red squirrel glove puppet for my niece's birthday and then my ex-brother-in-law and his wife came over bearing a gift for FB's birthday next week. It's a....well, sort of a......well, it's plastic, radio-controlled and it noisily whirs round in circles rather violently. The boys love it.

XBIL, as I will call him because it is quicker, brought a flying machine with him - he is a keen amateur pilot and has a vast collection of radio controlled planes and things. This time he brought a radio-controlled dragonfly - it was the coollest thing I have seen in a while - it was absolutely like a dragonfly made from polystyrene and 4 wings of clear plastic film, almost unbelievably fragile, but it flew like a real insect, with beating wings and everything. The thing was a kid magnet - as soon as we got it aloft in the park, every child in the place was mesmerised. This could also have had something to do with the fact that it is not the most controllable of craft and had a tendency to divebomb the unwary. It was a good idea to keep at least one eye on it at all times. Much fun was had by all.

Sunday, slight lie-in (the kids get up and fend for themselves to some extent on weekend mornings now. Bliss!) and then delivered FB to karate. I came back intending to go for a long run, but SB said he would like to come out too, so I decided to forego the really long run, which is too long for him, and do a loop he likes instead. We had a nice time out, chatting about tactics for his run in the Mini Great Edinburgh Run in May and he explained in detail the different kinds of ship you can get when you play Bubblebots on the internet. Apparently. We ran gently for about half an hour, SB looked like he had just left the house and I, as always, looked like a cardiac arrest on legs. We arrived back at the house to some chanting of "One of us is redder than the other! One of us is stinkier than the other!" Good job I'm thick skinned.

Since then we have been, not to put too fine a point on it, slobbing around. Husband has been working a bit, the boys and I have watched Raiders of the Lost Ark ("Cool! That guy's face melted! Can we run that bit back?!") and I am about to go and make the offspring some homemade pizza for dinner. Because, if I make it, it is not junk food, is it? Hope everyone else had a good weekend too. Mine was fanastic.