First firepit use of the year

 It was bloody cold, but was good fun burning a little wood and listening to music

Animals love hotdogs

 I bought a big jar of hotdogs last week and they're too old for me to eat so gave the rest to the animals.  The kids enjoyed theirs at the weekend and the enjoyed theirs too.  Arwen ate 3 in about 30 seconds.  Josie took a little longer.

I really need help

 More dice arrived this morning.  It was my treat for getting a bonus this year.  There was no actual bonus left for me after putting half straight in my pension and the other half paying off a little debt, but I felt I deserved a little something so bought myself another couple of sets of dice.

Yooperlite dice, they glow under UV light.

Unfortunatley the d4 has a little chip so need to send it back

Obsidian are lovely

First fire

First outdoor fire of the year! It's stopped raining for a little while and the wind has died down so thought I'd give it a go.

E number goodness

 April was late home from work last night so I fed the kids some Uncle Ben's sweet and sour chicken.  They loved that sugary goodness!

The hunt

 I've bought nearly a kilo of mini eggs for Sunday's easter egg hunt.  My plan is to hide each of the plastic eggs around the fancy house we're staying at over the easter holidays.  In each of the plastic eggs i'm going to write a number between 1-5.  They can then exchange the note for the same amount of mini eggs at my mini egg bank.

Small bit of shopping

 I asked for some helpers to do a little bit of shopping before yesterday's Sunday roast.  The usual tax of chocolate was charged!

Bought some hotdogs in a jar last week

 I'm starting to get why April doesn't like them...

Spring's certainly here

 According to the garden anyway.  The temperature outside doesn't feel that way!

Cooked for 10 yesterday

 We're away next weekend with a couple of families from Flo's class.  I practiced cooking a roast lamb for some Tonbridge friends this weekend as i've promised to do the same on holiday.  It turned out okay, but won't be doing the potatoes again.

Arthur rugby

Arthur's been playing rugby since he was 2 and is still doing rugby tots on Saturdays but we've started taking him to the u6s which comprised of under 6 kids and under 5 kids.  Arthur is officially under 4s (4 in May) so a little young.  He's a little intimidated during a couple of games but April's with him throughout so loves it.  Here he is after Sunday's wet and muddy session.

Flo started at 2 too.  She got to grips with it straight away, but after a year or two Arthur's really started to enjoy himself and has gained a lot of confidence.  At one point when he was very young I had to basically carry him around for the full session.  Arthur was and still is a lump so you can imagine how my back felt after that.  With a little break we've persevered and very pleased with his progress.

 

First bbq of the year

 We had our first bbq of the year on Saturday.  Although it was fairly delayed...  It was pretty moldy!  Yuk!  Nice though.  And nobody has died so we must have cleaned it all up enough.

Rugby club

We met up with a few of the other u6/u7 families at the rugby club on Saturday or some of the final weekend of the 6 nations.  It was good fun but we need to get April more involved.  She's been brilliant and has been helping out getting Arthur integrated into the u6s (and u5s) before he's officially allowed to start next season.

Arthur got a little pooped at one point.

Partners in crime.

As we were all leaving someone bought me another pint...  Much to April's annoyance she allowed me.  I drank it very quickly and even made it back before them all.  Good fun though.

15 days left

 I don't finish my latest contract till the end of April but with holidays / bank holidays i've only got 15 working days left.  I've enjoyed my time and it's been a fairly relaxed working environment but I want to go back to proper contracting.  I'm going to start looking properly next month. Let's hope something comes along...

So I got my bonus

 Although it's not been paid into my account yet. Should be Friday.  I received the most I could get (for a good rating). 110% of 15% of 66.67% (only there for 8/12 months of 2023) of my gross salary.  Half's gone straight into my pension as it's tax free and they inflate it what they would have paid in employers national insurance, 6.5%.  The rest i've taken for myself to pay off a couple of bits and maybe buy myself something nice.

Well that's a bugger

 Luckily one of our party had some glue on him so was able to get fixed.  We might not be using him for too much longer anyway as the GM thinks he's going to TPK us next week.  That will be fun!

Yesterday's walk

 We were both in London yesterday so Arwen didn't get much of a walk.  I took her for a quick 30 mins to the local park and her favourite part the model railway.  We don't like leaving her on her own and it's very rare, maybe once or twice.  She mostly sleeps all day anyway but sometimes it can't be helped.

Found this on my walk this morning

Another 11k, 14 thousand steps this morning.  During the walk I found this in the the middle of a farmers field!  A large I assume freshwater mussel.  I've seen a few before but very strange to see out in the open 500m from the river.

 

This week I have been mostly

 Making pickled onions.  My Dad's been doing it for years, much to his neighbours amusement when he's out by his garage peeling onions with his swimming goggles on!  Who needs goggles when you have a small child?

Bonus day

 It's bonus announcement day today so the office is as busy as i've seen it.  I was due to get told how much mine is 5 minutes ago but the numbers haven't been released yet so my meeting's been postponed!  FFS!

Being a contractor for the past 4/5 years means I don't get bonuses any more but i'm currently on a ftc so am technically employed by the company.  I just have a hard end date.

Strange modern art

These strange pieces of art greeted me this morning on the way into work.  

A bit sooky

 Arwen's fine although she does seem more sooky.  One of our friends lent us their soft cone of shame but she's still not pleased with it.  It's only for a week.

Poor Arwen

 Arwen has somehow injured herself on a dog walk, I've didn't hear her squeal at any point so not sure when it actually happened, but she's got an inch or so long cut just above her left shoulder.  It seemed to be healing last week so we ignored it but she's since been licking it so keeps opening up.

I took her to the vet this morning and unfortunately for her is now sporting a cone of shame.

April's out with the car so I had to walk her all the way back through the high street. Very embarrassing. She got a picks ear from the pet shop on the way back so she was happy.

Birthday pizzas

 Bought bases with tomato sauce, then make your own toppings

Flo and Arthur's half and half

April's pear, blue cheese and honey

My, a bit of everything

April's birthday meal

 A bunch of the Tonbridge lot went out for drinks and burgers for April's birthday.

Mothers day

 Last Sunday was mothers day.  It coincided with April's birthday on Saturday.  So it was basically April weekend!  I did drag April to wet rugby training in the morning though and I also got out to watch the football late afternoon, so she didn't get it all her way.

Arthur getting brain freeze 

Funny faces with Flo

Arthur was really good at eating in Havet

Pancakes and syrupy bacon for breakfast

A very wet walk

 We got soaked this morning.  Non stop rain.  Urgh.  I still did a good 11k steps though.

Walk around the lake

Draining the Medway for a clean

Beautiful day

 Although still a little fresh, it was a beautiful walk this morning.  Another long one, this time only 14k steps.  I didn't really need my coat and ended up taking it off and carrying for most of the way.  Won't be long before i'm out and about in shorts, showing the world how pasty white my legs are.