Today we went to birthday party for a friend of the boys, who turned eight. An arty and determined soul, he had spent the last few months building knight's helmets and armour out of plywood, so that his guests could launch a huge battle in his backyard on his birthday. Today was the day - and the battle was fierce. Funny thing is, although the temp has been hanging around -7 or so, it didn't feel cold. We must have acclimatized. Or our brains might be frozen....

Playing pirates on our bed. Most exciting part is when someone gets swept overboard and we have to haul them back on deck. Costume direction by Captain Mikus....

So we aren't going to be in our new house by Christmas. Things were moving a a cracking pace until most of the gyproc and structual work was finished, then about 10 or 12 of the workmen moved onto other houses, leaving one erstwhile builder to finish the first floor. We have been waiting for the last month for him to finish the "dirty jobs" -sanding plasterboard etc - before we bring in new handymen to finish up the inside work. All we have left is the wooden floors, doors, painting, tiling. You...

... between drinks. Or writing blog posts, for that matter. I have just been inundated with things in the last month or so - with the stuff of real life, I guess.Jem has been on two work trips, to various Scandinavian destinations, in which we at home went into lock-down, get-through-until-dad-gets-home mode. Then I had to fly to Muenster, Germany for a work conference (with a classic swap-the-kids routine, where Jem flew back home on one evening and I flew out the morning of the next day). We have...