fields

7-9pm

6.45 Steph leaves to the train station to go out for a drink with a friend in town, leaving me with my son (Eric 10), his friend who is sleeping over for a treat (Ollie 10), and my daughter (Mary 7).

Eric and Ollie and playing out the front with Nerf guns, armed and completely in the zone shall we say. Mary is inside and pottering around looking for extra food. By 7 with bedtime in sight she is grazing – sharking for anything she can get, crisps is popular so I’m trying to get her to grab a banana instead.

I’ve got a cold so decide to sit down in the study and watch an episode of Community on http://www.free-tv-video-online.me Episode 19 of series 2. Steph doesn’t really enjoy it – it’s a thing I have with Graham but I’m miles behind. So 20’36” is just the right amount of time before I have to get them up to bed.

I want an early night and steph is out so the plan is to get them to bed around 7.30 since it’s been a busy week and Eric is shattered. Of course there is a sleep over a foot so this won’t be easy.

Mary comes in to the study and watches the last 10 minutes of Community and misses all of the adult humour, but we like the time together.

The boys return almost perfectly on cue from being outside and I tell them that it’s getting close to bedtime. Eric asks if they can watch a movie and Mary wants on too since Eric and Ollie are going to have one. So I send them off looking for iPads.

I’m still in the study, boot up the big external drive and ask them to look for films in the movies folder. We have a stack of old movies so from time to time I swap out the movies on each iPad. Eric goes for Starwars IV and Gullivers Travels (Jack Black). Mary goes for Racing Stripes and the Little Mermaid.

Eric brings back Steph’s school iPad and I use a free MP4 player to move the files over via iTunes, boring transfer. Meanwhile Ollie and Eric disappear into the kitchen and then upstairs.

Mary hangs around with me and we copy her movies over then head upstairs with two ipads. Mary grabs hers and quickly gets changed and jumps into bed whilst I sort the boys out. The pull out bed is out (must have been Steph) and the boys are playing an old 007 GoldenEye on the Gamecube in Eric’s room. I find the goodie bowl that is full of a banana, apple, crisps and bourbons.

Ollie has brought a sleeping bag so I ask if they want to sleep next to each other because it’ll be easier to watch the iPad in bed. Eric says ‘that’s sick’ but comes around to the idea because Ollie is in a sleeping bag. I go get him one and find one in the downstairs cupboard where we keep coats, shoes and luggage cases. Back upstairs I give them 10 minutes on the Gamecube and try and set up the iPad on the end of the bed with a charger.

Then I go check on Mary – amazingly she has acquired a packet of crisps so I take them off her and ask her to brush her teeth properly. She doesn’t protest – too absorbed in watching Little Mermaid. She hops off to the bathroom and I shut her curtains, door to ensuite (future investment) and turn the main light off. People can go to this web-site if they need bathroom and kitchen services.

I then go back to the boys whilst mary is brushing her teeth.
A bout of GoldenEye has just finished so I capitalise on the opportunity and tell them to get changed if they want this movie. Turn of gamecube and tv and let them get sorted out.

Check on Mary who is back to bed watching Mermaids.

I turn the desklight on that is on the landing – it’s not as bright as the wall lights and we keep it on all night. Eric (I think) runs past in his pyjamas and goes for a wee. I go back into his room and Ollie is in his sleeping bag playing with the position of the ipad.
I set it up leaning on his suitcase and then Eric comes back.

I ask them if they’ve washed their teeth and they both say yes. For some reason I believe them! I leave them in their sleeping bags watching Gulliver’s travels and go and see Mary. She seems fine so I figure leave them to watch their movies.

At about 8.15 I head back to the study and work on the Shower blog for HATs (honestly). I’m using Vine clips so the internet is really handy. After 15 minutes Mary calls out “I can’t get to sleep”. So I take the laptop, making sure that the wordpress post is updated and head upstairs.

I can hear Starwars Episode IV from the boys room. They must have switched movies.
Mary is half watching the movie but is super tired. I sit on the end of her bed, and turn on iTunes. Mary and I have a routine that gets her to sleep within 4 songs of the Blue Nile Hats album (not joke and pure coincidence). She wants both the movie and the music and sneaks the iPad under her pillow. I say that it won’t get her to sleep, but I keep typing and am able to work on the wordpress page offline (reception is awful upstairs). She fidgets so I take the iPad away and turn it off. She doesn’t seem to mind and is asleep within minutes.

I don’t disturb the boys – let them get on with it, and head downstairs to see if the wordpress work will update and be ok. Of course it isn’t. Vines are a nightmare to work with!

9.15