The Joy and Pain of Saving

The Weekend Picture No. 46

M with her prize

The Signs of Spring have different attitudes to money. M is a saver. She likes to scrimp and save, watch the pennies and hoard great piles of copper coins in the hope that they will turn into a treasure of great worth given the passage of time.

E on the other hand is a spender. Money burns holes in the size of her pockets the size of Moshi Monster collecting cards. She is a sucker for keeping up with the Joneses and would far rather spend her cash than save.

Until this weekend it has appeared that E's spend today, worry tomorrow attitude has reaped dividends as she can boast the latest Blott rubber and other brand specific moulded plastic items whilst M has slipped behind the times as she squirrelled away pocket money and birthday/ xmas earnings in her Enormous Crocodile money box and avoided toy shops and other emporia of temptation.

That is until this weekend when The Kindle arrived!

M has been saving up for a Kindle for as long as she has been on this planet. She loves reading and spotted a friend with one 200 years ago and has ever since set her heart on owning this most unlikely of 10 year old "must-have gadgets" She reached her £69 target on Wednesday (when she found a £10 note from Christmas in a forgotten corner of her bedroom). We immediately paid for it.It arrived on Saturday! M can't take her nose out of it.

Is E proud of her sister's saving habits?
Has E been inspired to take a leaf out of M's book and start saving for a rainy day?

Has she heck!

E can't bear it.

E wants a Kindle and E wants one now. She does not want to save "because it will take ages".

Her brand specific plastic moulded items have been forgotten and replaced in her affections by The Kindle!

It's tough growing up.

Speak soon
JH

To The Best Mum In The World

The Weekend Picture No. 38

I thought I would let the Dubmeister and the Signs of Spring write today's post. These are the messages they wrote into their cards for my lovely wife this morning:

The Dubmeister  wrote:

Thankyou for being such an AMAZING mum, and for helping me even when I stropped and slammed the door. (I didn't mean it)

M slipped the following letter into her card:

You are the best mummy in the world, you could break the world record for chatting, you could be the best ever teacher, you can win the Great British Bake Off and you are good at keeping cheerful when it's raining at Legoland.

She also made a multi-coloured button bracelet.

E made a 3D card with the message:

"I love you" said M. "I Love you even more" said E. "You are funny always" said W. "You are like a butterfly." said Daddy.

Speak soon
JH

Imaginary Friends

Friendly Monster

When M was 2 the Dubmeister was mad about Star Wars. He was given a box set of movies 1-3 by his genius godmother and watched them until the discs were burnt through. Little M used to sit on the floor next to him taking it all in.

It was after watching the 3rd run of Star Wars 2 that she met Friendly Monster - her imaginary friend.

Friendly Monster went everywhere with us. He travelled in the petrol cap of the car, slept in a cot designed for Sylvanian Families and enjoyed eating peas. He was M's best friend. We even lost him once before finding him curled up in the spokes of one of the car's wheels.

Friendly Monster came from a long line of Imaginary Friends. When I was 2-3 I had two of them - Dada and Patish. Patish joined the army - I think he was last seen standing outside Buckingham Palace resplendent in red uniform and bearskin hat. I have no idea what happened to Dada - I guess we lost touch.

My lovely wife had a friend called Sarah who was a spider. She travelled everywhere with her in a bucket before, in a spooky premonition of that fright we had with Friendly Monster, getting lost on her drive way. Thankfully her parents found Sarah before she ran under an imaginary car to suffer an imaginary fate worse than an imaginary death.

Imaginary Friends are everywhere - my lovely wife tells me that during a game of I Spy in the Reception class she supports a little boy stumped the rest of the class when they couldn't spy "something beginning with an M" until his friend piped up "Do you mean your imaginary friend Magic?"

Of course he did!

I am all for imaginary friends. They are flexible, very friendly and always there for you. I also think they are a sign of an extremely creative imagination.

What is your position on imaginary friends? Are you a fan? Did you have one? Does your child have one? Or do you think that they are nothing but a bad influence?

Speak soon
JH

A Sylvanian Advent No. 3

THE WEEKEND PICTURE NO. 31

"And there were shepherds living in the fields near by. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and they were terrified."

This week's advent picture shows the night of Jesus' birth. M has re-created the scene in the shepherds' field above Bethlehem where the shepherds were visited by the heavenly host with wonderful news. You can read the bible story here.

Later on today, being Christmas Eve, we bring you the scene in the stable on the first ever Christmas day.

Speak soon

JH

PS You can see the Sylvanians re-enacting the meeting between Mary and the Angel Gabriel here and the arrival of the holy couple in Bethlehem by clicking here.

A Sylvanian Advent No.1

The Weekend Picture No. 29

"The Angel said to Mary - do not be afraid ... you will give birth to a son and he will be called Jesus."

 

 

The Signs of Spring love the cute little animal toys "Sylvanian Families". They have so much of the stuff that we gave them a corner of the sitting room in which to display and play with it at the beginning of the summer. That corner has now grown into half of the room. In fact, if we want to access this hub of the home we have to knock first and then pick our way gingerly across the carpet for fear of kicking over one of the country cottages or stamping on the baker's morning work.

Dad Etc has bowed to the inevitable and combined the SOS's love of these creatures with the season of Advent. E and M have combined to create 4 tableaux to re-tell the Christmas story for you.

Today's picture was created by M. It retells the story from Luke Chapter 1 when the Angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her that she will bear the Son of God.

Next week E brings you the scene in Bethlehem on the day of the census.

Speak soon
JH

The Night The Tooth Fairy Didn't Come!

E lost a tooth last night. She carefully placed the tooth in a sealed box which was placed lovingly under her pillow in anticipation of a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

The Tooth Fairy did not come!

This is E's take on why the Tooth Fairy did not come last night.

Speak soon.
JH

PS Follow me on Twitter @MisterH14 to find out whether the Tooth Fairy remembered tonight!
 

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Competitive Kids

The signs of spring before it all kicked off

I had a great idea this morning. My lovely wife is out all day with W and a mate at Thorpe Park. So, it's my turn to pick up the "signs of spring" from school.

"The weather is beautiful so why not collect them by bike" I thought. "It's a beautiful route across Surrey countryside from school to home - we could stop for a snack on the way home, roll peacefully down the hills, do a bit of nature, laugh and joke all the way home."

Well that's what I thought.

That's without reckoning in the phenomenon that hits kids in our family at the age of around 5-7 - COMPETITIVENESS!