Can I have some iced wadder? and hold the wadder...

Paul asked if we wanted to go out for dinner last night. All the family are heading back to the UK on Friday after enjoying 5 weeks of summer over here, and obviously the kids wanted to spend some quality time with their favourite soft touch babysitter before they went home. We arrived in Chadwicks shortly before they did. I first realised that they were there when a little pair of arms wrapped round me and a little head buried into my back.

"Can I sit beside you?" said Josh.

"Can I sit beside you?" said Katie

Oh oh, we're heading for an argument I thought. I only have two sides! Beth was playing it cool though, being much too grown up to get involved in an argument over who got to sit where.

She's not too grown up to get involved in the game of dropping ice down Stephen's back though! I think its great. All three of them want to give me kisses, cuddles, tell me secrets and play noughts and crosses...and all they want to do to Stephen is give him High 5's as hard as they possibly can and drop ice down his back. Beth got him a cracker - straight down the back of the shirt into the back of the jeans!!

As parents worldwide will testify, this is common behaviour in their children when in proximity to Stephen! I remember a couple of years ago we were at a BBQ and Stephen had 4 kids chasing him round the garden with handfuls of ice. It was nasty when they caught him...he had 3 children hanging off his shorts which began the inexorable slide downwards (we certainly saw more of him that we wanted to!) and the 4th was shovelling handfuls of ice anywhere they could!

Then there was the Close BBQ when I had left him there as I had wilting plants to get into the garden. I could hear distant shrieking and laughter...1/2 hour later he appeared - totally soaked from head to foot as he'd had a water fight with the kids!!

The comical sight of the evening was probably me being towed along the street by Beth and Katie, running ahead so we could hide round the corner and surprise they others. I'm built for comfort, not for speed and was also trying to keep my handbag from coming crashing off my shoulder and knocking Katie out. I was having to do this solely by using the power of positive thought as I had a small hand in both of mine!