While the husband is away...our half-term break

I'm quite used to Ram being away for a day or two for work, and now that the children are older and at school during the day it doesn't really make that much difference. But over half-term he jetted off to San Francisco for a week, and with my parents away as well I was a little anxious about how we'd cope - knowing that there would be small childrn there with me the entire time, no solo trips to the gym or supermarket, and the responsibility of being in sole charge.

I'm quite a home bird, so I didn't plan too many day trips out, but I did arrange to meet up with friends to keep us busy. I stocked up on cake and biscuits, bought a few crafty bits to keep us busy, and I'd also been hoarding a stash of magazines, books and other little bits and pieces that I seem to collect.

Some of the rules were very much relaxed. A little while back when Ram wasn't away quite so often I would sometimes allow the children to sleep in my bed with me. It's a big bed so there's plenty of room, and I feel more secure at night when we are all in together. I put them to bed at their usual time, then join them later on, carefully moving each one to a side of the bed before I slid down in the middle. Within seconds I generally have two small children, still fast asleep, suddenly right on top of me, having located me with some sort of uncanny sixth sense. Mia is a noisy sleeper and regularly screams out in her sleep for no reason, while Harry wakes up early, wakes up Mia, and then neither will go back to sleep and I spend the day exhausted.

So this time I managed to get away with popping them with me only on the last night, and fortunately they were okay with that. Every other night I tricked them into thinking that they were staying up later by having a 'stay up late movie night' that started at 6pm and finished at their normal bedtime, at which point they went straight to bed with no fuss hoping for a repeat the following night!

We had a couple of TV dinners, and Harry played a huge amount of Minecraft. Luckily Mia is very good at tidying so the house didn't go completely to pot and I managed to keep up with the washing (it's surprising how much more space Ram's clothes take up than mine and the children's!)

I did quite enjoy the evenings that I had to myself. I've been watching Broadchurch, which I missed when it was first on, and also re-watched a few episodes of Sherlock while I got on with my crochet. I was pretty tired at the end of the day so it was nice to have something repetitive yet productive to get on with! I'm building up quite a collection of granny squares now, although there's a way to go yet until I've made enough for a blanket!

The children are back at school now and it's quite nice to have the peace and quiet during the day, although I must admit to having a little tear in my eye when I dropped them off on Monday morning!