2 weeks

Well, it's been 2 weeks and the kitchen is not finished. It will be in working order by the time I get home tomorrow night but still things to finish. The heating got fixed yesterday - after they drained the system to take the radiator off the wall 2 weeks ago Ben has been without heating or hot water poor guy! Luckily he borrowed some heaters from work and uses the shower at the farm too so it's not been too bad for him I think. It's been frustrating that progress has been slower than expected but at least it will be all done in the end. I think when I get home I'll have to clean all the cabinets thoroughly - they've been stored in a unit at the farm since November plus we bought them 2nd hand and the people didn't clean them before we got them! Cheeky!
I'm looking forward to getting back and sorting everything out! I've been able to do quite a few things I didn't get chance to at home whilst I've been here - finished 3 books and made the stroller liners I'd been planning on for ages (pictures will be posted soon...) still a few more things I want to get done before the baby arrives but it seems the kitchen is not going to be finished for a few days at least so they will be on hold till I can get things in order. I'm not sure how much chaos I can deal with!

One week

We have been up at my parents for a week now but time has been flying by and the days are merging a bit into one... We've been to 3 different parks, big nice ones, not like the tiny ones near where we live - these ones have big play areas, band stands, water fountains, lakes, ducks, museums, mini zoos and lots of space to run around - one of them even has a roller skating rink (Esther is desperate to have a go but obviously I can't take her at the moment...). The kids have been enjoying themselves! We fed the ducks yesterday only to discover when we were on our last piece of bread that we were not supposed to feed bread to the ducks because it encourages rats....you can buy some special duck food from the shop....but we thought we may as well give them the last bit of bread! It's amazing how much more there seems to be to do here on your doorstep in comparison to where we live.
Last night Eliza had a high temperature but seems to have been fine before, during and since. Hopefully she will not get it again tonight because tomorrow it's my cousin's baby blessing and I really want to go. Who doesn't love a family get-together?! I know 3 people having their babies blessed tomorrow - must be a good day for it!
Kitchen update: the plaster was taking its time to dry out so they brought round some heaters to help it out, Ben says it's looking pretty good now. So they are starting tiling on Monday and have a deadline of Thursday to have at least the bottom kitchen units in as the worktop guy is coming to cut the worktops. Our kitchen units are all in the living room now so poor Ben has nowhere to sit and relax! I think Ben got the last bit of the hideous flooring up today - it's been a lot of hard work! Thank you Ben! Hopefully less than a week left of the mess!

Everything but the kitchen sink

SO the kitchen is no longer! Everything is gone but the kitchen sink (and some of the flooring that I think must have been stuck down with the world's strongest adhesive...). The sink still has some dirty dishes in it which will need attacking tomorrow. The kids are all packed and ready to head to Grandma and Grandpa's house tomorrow so I suppose I'd best go and pack myself. Not that I don't enjoy going to my parents house but I'm going to miss Ben for the 2 weeks we'll be away and I'll miss the routine the kids have, no pre-school etc but it's not like we are going to be on holiday and have those exciting things to do, I'm going to have to have to be on the ball so the girls don't watch TV all day long!
Poor Ben is going to be left at home but thankfully he has the offer of dinner every night (thanks Helen!) so it makes me feel better that he won't be emaciated when we get back!
Dad took some pictures of the wrecking of the kitchen so I'll post them when I can!