A new year and another decision.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas, just the four of us at home, the way we like it.  It was unfortunately marred by the death of M's rat Bob, who A found stiff and unmoving on Christmas evening (fortunately it was after the girls were asleep, so the day itself wasn't spoiled). She had been absolutely fine in the afternoon, so don't think she suffered and at just over two years old, she wasn't young.  We had a funeral and buried her in the garden on Boxing Day.

On the Wednesday after Christmas, we went down to stay with Granny and Big Grandad.  We went down early enough to see Uncle S & Aunty P, who had been there from the previous day.  Uncle M lives in the same town, so we saw more of him and went for a couple of lovely, wintry walks with him and his dog, Treacle.

Uncle M on a frosty afternoon.

We went to see my Grandma too, who's 95 this month and although she's still living independently, is finding it increasingly difficult to get around her little flat and has no prospect of things getting better.  It's very difficult and she is frequently low and talks about having had enough and wanting to go now and although she can be jollied out of it, it's a difficult time for her and my Dad who gets the brunt of it.  I did plant the seed of the idea of a DNR order (something we've also talked about with A's mum, who is an extremely fit and active 82 year old), not a nice conversation but given her frequently expressed feelings it makes sense.

We went to have lunch and spend the afternoon with friends of A's in Leamington Spa, which was lovely.  The girls got on very well with their daughter, also called K, and insisted on us making plans to get together again during February half term at the latest, although preferably at a weekend before that.

After leaving Granny and Big Grandad's, we went on to see in the new year with other friends, where we had a great time playing various board games (some old favourites, some new to us - I'm planning a separate post about the various games we've played over the holidays), eating good food and drinking nice things.  The next day, we met up with more friends.  We met S with J, T, B & G at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, it being around the same distance for them and us to travel, open on the bank holiday and handily also free entry.  It's not somewhere that K & M would generally go for, but there were some interesting things and a good play area!  When we went our separate ways, we went to visit the lovely Ma & P and have tea with them.  While there, I got to hear more about what M had been doing in history at school than she's ever told me, as we were talking about Ma's job, which involves the organisation of the second biggest international medieval congress in the world.  M said that they had been doing the medieval period at school and they chatted about various things that she's never mentioned to me!  Apparently asking if she's had a good day and if she did anything interesting is going on at her about things, which is why she doesn't tell me stuff.  Ho hum!  We also, very excitingly, watched a CBBC programme (that link will work for a few weeks at least) about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with Ma that she had been interviewed for and she's in it for about 45 seconds.

We're now back home and starting to get back into the swing of things.  It was Fun Club today, with a circus skills session which was fun and the girls also went to korfball this evening.  We won't be properly back into our routine until Monday though, as A starts his new job then.  He's going to be working from home when he's here, although will be travelling quite a bit.  The organisation is a Dutch NGO and he has to spend a week a month in Amsterdam (although probably mostly in two chunks rather than all at once) and will generally organise things so that trips elsewhere will be tagged onto his time in Amsterdam as it's much easier to get places from there than from Nottingham.  This means that although he may not be away quite as frequently, when he is it will be for longer than we are used to.  It's going to take some getting used to!

Finally, M has made the decision about the next stage of her education.  She told me that she prefers home education, but that she is going to stick it out for the rest of the year at school, so will be back at school on Thursday.  The main concern she has seems to be that she'll get to July and by then will have made some good friends, but she feels that she's less likely to keep in touch with school friends and that bothers her.  It's a tricky one, but at least we know where we are for the next 7 months.