One Adventurer Returns and Another Leaves

SAM CAME HOME AND I BURST INTO TEARS,

I WAS THEN OFF AGAIN TO CONQUER MY FEARS.

I'M GETTING MUCH BETTER AT FLYING ON JETS,
MORE FILMING IN MANCHESTER, IT WAS THE BEST SHOOT YET!

Hello and apologies for missing a week’s blog. I have a good excuse I promise!

Luke and I got through a very quiet week without Sam and soon Friday came around and I sat eagerly waiting for his coach to return from camp. I promised myself I would not embarrass him by hugging him to death and crying as soon as he stepped of the coach. I had not anticipated the present he had bought me though!

As he walked off the coach I was sure he looked taller, and older and my stomach jumped to see him. He then finished me off completely by producing a present from his bag, a fridge magnet that said: ”If mothers were flowers you’d be the one I would pick” That was it then, it was lucky I had my sunglasses on as the tears were streaming! I hurried him home quickly so his friends didn’t see an over-emotional mother and then started on the enormous bag of wet muddy washing. It turned out once the clothes were clean that most of them didn’t actually belong to Sam! I thought I was going mad at first thinking, oh I don’t remember buying that top, I don’t remember buying those trousers, but then I realised that was because I didn’t!

He had a fantastic time and took part in every activity such as abseiling, raft building, zip wires, canoeing and lots more. I felt very proud of him and told myself if Sam can do all that aged 10, I should be able to sit on an aeroplane without having a panic attack every three seconds and convincing myself the propellers are about to fall off!



Me & Bev

 It was with my new found bravery that I set off to the airport again for my next adventure with the Iceland mums. We were filming the last series of adverts to sponsor the programme “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here”. As usual the childcare and work arrangements were complicated, but as we are all mums with busy lives this is always the way, and the same for everyone. It was a tight schedule. I flew up to Manchester on Sunday afternoon, then filmed Monday, flew back Tuesday, went to work Wednesday, flew back to Manchester straight after work, filmed Thursday, and caught the train back to arrive home Thursday evening, in time to go to work on Friday and Saturday!

Hence no blog, well you have to admit it’s a better excuse than “the dog ate my homework!”



Kim, Victoria, Bev, Eve, Me and Charlene

Every time we “Iceland mums” meet up it is more fun and more relaxed. We are no longer strangers that just find ourselves sharing the same extraordinary adventure. We are now friends who keep in touch almost every day in between filming. We have shared life experiences and found we have a lot in common. This means that every shoot we do is easier than the last. Imagine getting together with a group of friends and staying in a nice hotel together every few months. Even on set now it is easy to forget we are actually being filmed. When our instruction from the director is “just start chatting and laughing amongst yourselves”, if anything the problem is getting us to stop, not knowing how to start. It carries on back at the hotel as well! These last adverts were filmed on location rather than in a studio which meant we got to see some amazing houses.



Charlene, Amira, Sam, Me, Sue & Alissa

The second day’s filming was at another beautiful house and this time I had a screen daughter for the day. It was lovely, and I would have been happy to keep her but I think her real mum was quite keen to have her back after the filming! I really did feel so much more relaxed than filming the first advert when everything was new, and although exciting, it was quite intimidating too. It will be interesting to see if this shows as the adverts are aired one by one. It was an emotional goodbye to the mums this time as it was our last official assignment to film. I have no doubt that we will all keep in touch and we actually already have a date lined up to meet quite soon. Even so, I think I speak for everyone when I say we have all absolutely loved making these adverts and we are all hoping the Iceland shoppers like them, and want to see more of us next year!



 One thing this whole experience has taught me is that you never know what will happen next in life so anything is possible.

Our first adverts are now live on TV so it’s been a very exciting time. Please come back next week when I can tell you how we celebrated my screen debut! I wonder if the Shake and Vac lady was watching......

Ellie
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There's Someone Missing!

THIS WEEK I SENT SAM OFF TO CAMP...

WHEN I SAID GOODBYE MY EYES WERE DAMP....

I TRIED NOT TO SHOW IT AS I KNOW HE’LL HAVE FUN....

IT’S A HARD LIFE BEING A MUM!

Since winning the “New Face of Iceland“ competition I have been interviewed by several different people for magazine articles and one of the questions I have been asked is, “what do you think is the hardest part of being a mum?”

It’s funny because when you have a new-born baby you think the sleepless nights are the hardest. Then they start putting everything into their mouths, and stopping them from finding sharp objects to choke on is the hardest part. Then they learn to crawl and keeping them out of danger is the hardest part. Then they have tantrums in crowded places and that is the hardest part. Then they learn to walk unsteadily and trying to stop them banging their heads 10 times a day is the hardest part.

This Monday morning I waved Sam off to school camp for the week, and I now think this is the hardest part.

They will have an amazing time; they will be doing abseiling, canoeing, orienteering, and lots of other outdoor activities. They also have a disco and get to share rooms with their mates. It is a confidence building exercise in their final year at primary school to prepare them for moving up next year.

It was lovely to see Sam being so excited and enthusiastic about going. Why then, you might wonder did I find that hard, and try not to well up? The answer is that letting go of children is harder than having them depend on you for everything.

From the moment they are born you suddenly realise you have total responsibility for another person’s wellbeing and you have to cater for their every need without a manual or instruction booklet. For me this came as a shock to the system at first and I was very nervous and scared of getting it wrong. I read every baby book going and then just got confused when they seemed to all contradict each other! Do you pick them up or leave them to cry? Do you feed them when they are hungry or at regular times? Does playing Mozart to them really make them clever later in life?

By the time I had a second one I was much more relaxed and realised that it’s best to throw all the books away and do what feels natural. If you rely on your instincts you can’t go far wrong. As they grow you become more confident all the time in your ability to care for them and supply everything they need. Gradually though, just as you get used to that, the job as a mum changes again. Instead of doing everything for them you have to start encouraging their independence. You have to make judgements about how much freedom to give. When and where can they go out? Who with, and how long for? You still want to keep them safe, but don’t want to wrap them in cotton wool. Just as there was no instruction booklet as a baby, there is none to tell you how much freedom and at what age is the right amount. You only have your own instinct to rely on and you know if you get it wrong either way, there can be bad repercussions. They build their own friendships and start to make their own decisions about how they look and what they wear.

It is the way of nature that your children grow up and away from you and it is exactly how it should be, as you won’t always be there, but for me this is the hardest part!

I am thinking of Sam almost constantly this week and just wondering what he is doing, what he’s had for tea, has he changed his clothes or had a wash yet?! The sales assistant in the chemist said it was a waste of time buying all the shampoo, shower gels and body sprays as they don’t ever use them at camp, but agreed that as mums, it made us all feel better to buy them and pack them anyway! They are not allowed any contact with home for the whole week except for emergencies and I do understand the reason for this, but would love to just be able to say, “had a good day today, Sam?”

I do hope they don’t get too washed out as the weather is terrible, and also hope that 9 pairs of socks is enough for five days! I am really looking forward to hearing all about it when he comes home, although according to reports from previous years, he will be very tired, very hungry, very dirty and just want to sleep!

We won’t have long to catch up as then I’m off to Manchester on Sunday to film the next adverts. At least when it’s me that is away I always know I can phone at any time to talk to the boys, and of course I am looking forward to meeting up with the gang of “Iceland mums” again!

It was a bit of a thoughtful blog this week, but I bet I’m not the only one thinking these things at this time of year with many children starting school for the first time, or changing schools. I also wouldn’t mind betting that more secret tears were shed by parents dropping off children than by the actual children themselves! But again, that is nature and the way things should be!

Please come back next week for a less thoughtful, more action packed blog when I can tell you how the filming went and what happened when we all got together again.

Thanks for reading
Ellie
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Special Tasting and Wardrobe Call

A BIG BOX ARRIVED BY SPECIAL DELIVERY.....
LOTS OF TASTY THINGS TO TRY FOR OUR TEA.....
PRODUCTS SO NEW THEY AREN’T IN THE SHOPS.....
WE WILL ENJOY FILLING OUR CHOPS!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I love receiving things in the post that aren’t junk mail or bills. I feel very happy just to see a post card on the mat, so you can imagine my excitement at receiving a big box of 10 new products from Iceland. These new items are coming soon but have not reached the stores yet. I feel very privileged to test them all out with friends and family, and let you all know what we thought on my product of the week page.


Sam and Luke take the testing very seriously as I pay them 20p each per product reviewed. They have to do it properly and write notes and scores on taste, value and appearance! Perhaps after all this training one of them will decide to be a food critic when they grow up and become famous for sitting in classy restaurants reducing the chef to tears!

Luke found that the other great thing about being sent a big box of food is that you can turn the big box into the “Luke express aeroplane” with a few bits of sellotape and some pens!




I also had another trip up to Manchester this week for a wardrobe call to see what I would be wearing for the next set of adverts. We all had different time slots with my old friend Scott the stylist, but I did manage to bump into Eve and Sam having their fittings too. It was lovely to see them again after the London filming. I can’t say too much except this time it was one dressy, and one casual outfit. Scott is always the professional and had several different things to try so am just keeping my fingers crossed now I get my favourite on the day!

We also met the director of these new adverts and she gave me some vocal exercises to do that real actors use. They involve making odd noises and pulling funny faces so needless to say the boys are enjoying laughing at their mum again when I try to practise at home. I’m sure Meryl Streep doesn’t have to put up with children laughing at her at saying “Mum you sound like a mad person”! I hope it all pays off.

I caught the train to Manchester and back this time which was a three hour journey each way but I have to say I really enjoyed the trip. When at home or work there is always something to be doing and I rarely sit down, but on a train you have no choice so I made the most of the time and read my book and listened to my iPod . People that travel on trains all the time probably find it very boring, but for me I felt more relaxed than ever and made the most of some “me time”.

It was also back to school time this week. You know it’s that time of year again when the trees start to lose their leaves, it’s time to put the garden furniture away, and suddenly there are lots of adverts on T.V for pencil cases and anti nit shampoo!! Mind you it also means we are getting closer to the first screening of the autumn Iceland adverts too. I really can’t wait to see the results of our efforts as sometimes I still think I dreamt the whole thing. I won’t truly believe I’ve done it until I see myself on TV.

It is a big year for Rob’s son James as he starts senior school. I thought he looked very smart and grown up in his new uniform and actually more like an estate agent, or business man than a school boy. He said the first day went well so I hope he enjoys his time there. Sam has one more year and then he will move up too. It still seems like only yesterday I was taking him to toddler groups and “Music with Mummies,” where we all embarrassed ourselves by singing very badly to our children who were too young to complain!

We are only one week into the new term and have already lost: 1 school jumper, 1 lunch box and 1 P.E. trainer, and yes they were all name tagged! I am thinking of tying all the kids’ clothes and possessions to them before sending them off to school in future as that seems the only way to stop them leaving things in silly places and just walking off! I will make them look like buskers with everything attached by bits of string unless anyone can suggest any better ideas?

Thanks for reading and please come back next week when I can tell you about our preparations for filming the last adverts.
Ellie
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Just Dance!

WE HAVE A NEW GAME AND ARE KEEPING FIT TOO....
IT’S VERY COMPETITIVE, BETWEEN ME AND YOU....
ROB AND LUKE WON’T STOP TIL THEY PROVE WHO IS BEST...
I KEEP SITTING DOWN AS I NEED A REST!

Well after last week’s blog I expect you would have thought the last thing I wanted to do any more of was dancing. That would have been true if I hadn’t discovered “Just dance” on the Wii.

We are nearing the end of the six week school break and this is the time I normally start pulling my hair out and counting down the hours and minutes till school starts again. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing things with the boys but after all the complicated child care arrangements for work, when you have exhausted all the exciting day trips and run out of money, it can get hard to think of new entertainments! When I saw this game on the shelf in the shop I just thought that might buy me a bit more time before boredom and destruction set in. I didn’t realise that it would be so much fun for adults too! You basically have to copy the person on the screen and score points every time you get the moves right and do them in time. Four people can dance at the same time so we operated ‘a winner stays on’ policy. I have never laughed as much as I did watching Rob and Luke trying to beat each other dancing to the song “Girls just wanna have fun”. I actually filmed it on my camera and am keeping it for blackmail potential with the threat of posting it on YouTube! My absolute favourite was “The Eye of the Tiger” which involves boxing moves so must be good for reducing bingo wings. I have decided I must have a natural undiscovered talent for boxing too as I got the highest scores on this particular song. A new hobby perhaps?!

We also had a visit from a photographer this week. It is for a magazine article to tie in with the first adverts that will hit your screens very shortly. Although we knew what to expect this time, having done it once before, I still don’t think we are a “celeb “ family yet. Luke still insists on pulling his ears out and going cross-eyed whenever a camera is pointed in his direction and saying “look at me I am a monkey”. Sam and I are quite used to this but I’m not sure the photographer was! I was trying to bribe them with everything I could think of to do what they were told and to stop pulling faces. In the end it was the chocolate that did it, and I even gave one to the photographer which he seemed very happy about. Sam actually has an interest in photography and enjoyed having a chat about lenses, flashes, and how to set yourself up as a free lance photographer, so watch this space!

As the new term approaches we had time for one last day trip today and as I was also looking after 2 extra children for a friend, I thought going out was a good idea. We went to “@ Bristol” which is a huge hands-on science centre that has links with the people who make the Wallace and Grommet films. Something Bristol is very proud of. There is so much to do there you couldn’t do it all in a full day. Luke made a bubble so big his head fitted in it, I had great fun playing with iron filings and a big magnet which reminded me of science lessons in school. Sam found a huge hamster wheel to run in and we all found out how much the average brain weighs at different stages in life. There was also a whole section dedicated to animations where you could make your own film and email it back to your home computer. Our favourite bit though was the planetarium which is inside a huge metal ball where you sit in reclining cinema seats and watch the ceiling whilst they project lots of star constellations and tell you what you are looking at. I decided there and then that if I ever became a millionaire I would have my own planetarium installed in my bedroom at home and just lie and look at the starry ceiling every night!

Sam and Luke also had a taster of what I have already experienced with Iceland, filming for TV. There is a whole “studio” where you can choose backgrounds and camera angles and broadcast yourself reading the news or doing the weather forecast. There are buttons to add on sound effects such as laughter, applause and music. It really was a great day out and I personally enjoyed myself so much I have now signed us up for a year’s membership so we can go back whenever we want!

The next exciting thing on the agenda is my wardrobe call for the final advertising campaign this year. I’m off to Manchester tomorrow to meet my old friend from a previous blog Scott the stylist. I wonder what he will have me wearing this time?! Can’t wait to find out so come back next week when I may have more information…

Thanks for reading
Ellie
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Exhausting Fun!

WE WENT TO LONDON TO FILM THE CHRISTMAS AD...
THE MOST EXHAUSTING FUN I’VE EVER HAD....
EVERYONE PUSHED THEMSELVES RIGHT TO THE LIMIT....
REALLY STILL CAN’T BELIEVE I’M IN IT!!!!!

Hello everyone
This week I wanted to give you more of an insight into what goes on behind the scenes when making an extra special TV advert.

I have previously described how it felt to film the autumn 30 second adverts starting to be on screen from the end of September. At the time I was surprised how long it took to film and how much work was involved. After filming the latest Christmas advert over four days I now think those ones were easy! I don’t want to spoil the surprise by telling you exactly what we were all doing but will say it involved dancing, amazing costumes and about 100 extras.

When I look back now I don’t believe what I actually did and think it will only seem real once it airs on TV for the first time around mid November. None of us are actors, dancers, or singers; we really are just normal Iceland customers who have found ourselves in a very surreal situation quite unlike our normal lives. It’s such an amazing opportunity to show the world, and more importantly ourselves, what we are actually capable of if we put our minds to it. Being in a group really helped too as we all had our moments of self doubt, missing our families, or injury but the way we all supported each other and pulled together was amazing.

You have to remember we all have family lives; children and loved ones at home. For some of us with younger children it was the first time we had really left them for any length of time with others. We were all suffering from tiredness too as the days filming started early and didn’t finish till late evening, so all emotions were running high. Once in costume we couldn’t stray far from the set either for fear of being needed, or in my case for fear of tripping up and landing in a puddle or something and ruining our outfits!

The dance routine was also very mentally and physically tiring, as we had to concentrate hard on the moves, whilst remembering to smile, and watch the choreographers at the side without showing that we were looking at them! I don’t know how professional dancers do it. At one point I described it as a mixture of boot camp and the big brother house! However when you have gone through all that and come out the other side the reward you get is the most amazing sense of achievement you could ever imagine. It really is a priceless feeling. If someone had talked me through exactly what I would be doing for the four days step by step and told me the hours involved and asked me beforehand if I could do it, I would have instantly replied “I can’t do that”. Well the big surprise for me was I could, and did do it!

There is also a lot of sitting around involved when filming adverts and whilst you might think that bit sounds easy, once you see our costumes you will realise even that was challenging!It was in these moments though we really all got to know each other and discussed anything and everything, including copying each other’s accents, sharing jokes and life stories telling ghost stories and scaring each other! Considering how little sleep we all had compared to a normal week, the atmosphere was electric and full of energy.

We also celebrated two birthdays and an anniversary and found time to eat cake! I think at some point or other I experienced every emotion possible in those four days and even made up a few new ones! I nearly fainted, had a nose bleed, and got told to sit down with someone holding my feet up! It’s funny though, looking back now I just remember all the fun and laughter the most.

After returning to the normal world again and coming out of the limelight I went to the other extreme and went on a camping trip with my boys, Rob and his children to a lovely campsite on a farm in the Forest of Dean.

Completely off the beaten track with woods to play in, rope swings, cute baby piglets and the space to make real fires and toast marshmallows. Two other friends had also taken their children, so in total there were nine free spirits of various ages running around and getting back to what children used to do, before computer games and TV were invented. I sat there watching the sausages sizzle on the fire with my nice plastic wine glass and asked myself why we didn’t go camping more often. It really was idyllic with beautiful sunsets. Then the rain set in and popped my bubble, killed our new gazebo, and flooded the tents!

It was at that point I remembered why we don’t go camping more often!

Thanks for reading and please come back next week to read all about my next adventure, my life really is the most exciting roller-coaster ride at the moment!
Ellie
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Birthday and Christmas!

WE TOOK LUKE FOR A BIRTHDAY BOWLING TREAT....
TWO GAMES EACH AND A BITE TO EAT...
WE PILED INTO CARS AND STARTED TO RACE.........
REALLY SHOULD HAVE CHECKED EVERYONE KNEW WHICH BOWLING PLACE!!!!

Apologies for missing a week’s blog but what a jam packed two weeks I have had!

Since I last wrote, Luke has turned 7 and lost his two front baby teeth. He had a great birthday and amongst other things got the dreaded “Mouse trap” game, he had been asking for, for ages. I understand now why you always see this game in pieces at every car boot sale you ever go to. By the time you have assembled the numerous little plastic pieces, the children have lost interest completely and gone off to do something else!


We have decided the time of big birthday parties on bouncy castles has ended, phew! So instead, we invited a few close friends to come bowling. As usual I was totally disorganised and as we all jumped into our cars shouting “last one there is a Barbie doll”, it did not occur to me to check that everyone knew which bowling alley we were going to!

After waiting outside for 15 minutes the slow realisation dawned that our friends in the third car were on their way to a different venue 20 miles in the opposite direction! I was just about to phone them when I also realised I had left my phone at home on charge. Panic set in as I didn’t even know their number to use someone else’s phone. However, when you are used to regular minor disasters like I am you become very good at problem solving. In the end I got Rob to phone a friend of his, who lives next door to a mutual friend of mine and they lived next door to the people in the lost third car, to tell them to turn around; genius! The best part of living in a small town is that there is always a connection with everybody. And we only had to wait an hour while they drove back from the other side of Bristol in the rush hour.

Once we were all in the same place we had a fantastic night, the children were much more mature and sensible on their lane whilst the adults enjoyed getting very competitive and laughing at each other; happy days!

Christmas also came early this week as I went off to London to film the Iceland Christmas advert, over 4 days with the other “Iceland Mums”. You may remember me saying that I was amazed at how long it took to make a 30 second ad. Well now I know that was a walk in the park compared to filming a full minute Christmas extravaganza! There is so much to say I might have to fit it into two blogs.
Let me start by telling you about the “Iceland mum’s”. There are 17 of us in total and we will all be appearing in the main Christmas one. I can’t say too much about what we were actually doing as I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will just say a lot of sweat and tears went into achieving the end result, so it will be well worth watching! As a group we have become extremely close but are all still unique in our own ways. There is;
Amira, who kept me sane throughout the whole experience and stopped me from jumping the fence shouting “I’m NOT a celebrity get me out of here!” in the mad moments! She sees the best in everybody and never complains.

Lizzie, who has just become a very proud granny or “glammy” as she will be known. She speaks her mind and has a strong moral sense of right and wrong. She also has the biggest heart and is very protective of the people closest to her.

Eve, a great friend with a fantastic sense of humour. She can see the funny side of every situation in life, where some others might feel self pity and give up!

Alissa, always looks beautiful, even first thing in the morning after 3 hours sleep, great company and always with a story to tell; the most amazing accent of Dutch mixed with Liverpudlian.
Sue, the brightest eyes I’ve ever seen, always full of sparkle and life, and constantly looking after all the others.

Bev, beautiful and very talented although she doesn’t realise it. She overcame nerves and I hope she feels as proud as she should be for doing it.

Charlene, better than any prescription medication for cheering people up! A complete ray of sunshine, always full of energy and constantly laughing and making everyone else laugh too.
Victoria, very tactile and caring to others, has a dry sense of humour that saved us all in the exhausted moments.

Lisa, like a beautiful little china doll, her feet are so small she could have swapped her shoes with one of the children on set!

Sam, so down to earth and easy to talk to, a real gem, one of those people you meet and think you have known for ages, with a tiny waist approximately the same size as one of my thighs!

Natalie, the organiser; confident and in control, and calm in a crisis. You can depend on her and she puts others before herself.

Lorraine, you could write a book about her! As the oldest Iceland mum, a retired professional dancer and cabaret performer, she put us all to shame with her amazing energy and fitness. She could do the splits; dance for 18 hours and still want to go out afterwards! She had stories about everything and everybody, including Tom Jones, and kept us all entertained for hours. If only we could all be like Lorraine, she was an inspiration!

Melanie, Babs, Kim, and the other Bev came for one day of filming too.

Melanie was one of the other 7 finalists in the original competition and she and I have become very close, so it was lovely to see her. You just know when you “click” with people instantly and are on the same wave length and that is Melanie for me.

Babs is the only other mum who comes from my part of the country so it was lovely to hear an accent from home. Kim and Bev were lovely too but I sadly didn’t get much time to spend with them and am hoping to get to know them better as the “Iceland mums” phenomenon gathers pace!

And as for me.....well you’d have to ask the other Iceland mums!

So, now you know who’s who, please come back next week so I can tell you about the amazing, incredible, surreal, exhausting, invigorating roller coaster ride of highs and lows we all experienced making the Christmas advert. I would never have believed I could have done some of the things we did, and am so grateful to Iceland for pushing me right out of my comfort zone and proving to myself I have much more mental and physical strength than I ever knew.
Ellie
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Food testing and airport embarrassment!

AS I WALKED THROUGH THE AIRPORT PEOPLE WERE LOOKING AT ME....
WAS IT BECAUSE I WOULD BE ON TV.......?
DID THEY RECOGNISE AN ICELAND MUM......?
NO, IT WAS BECAUSE I HAD THE HEAD REST STUCK TO MY BUM!!!!

Hello, I thought this week I should start by telling you one last flying related story.

As I walked through the airport for the third time I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I was being so much braver about flying. I was wheeling my case along amongst the business travellers with their lap top bags and thinking how confident, professional and sophisticated I must look now. I even felt as if people were looking at me, and it was as I was wondering how people recognised me when the TV adverts hadn’t been aired yet that a lady tapped me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me” she said ”I think you’ve got something there...” as she pointed behind me. I looked round to see that the bright purple head rest saying “South West Airlines” had attached itself to my bottom with Velcro!! It must have happened when I reached up to get my bag out of the overhead locker and it slowly sunk in how many people I had strutted past feeling confident actually looking like a bit of a wally! For some people this might have been very embarrassing, but luckily embarrassing situations seem to happen to me so regularly I now just find them funny, and just think of the good story I gave the lady to tell when she got home!

Anyway, this week I had a great new task from Iceland. One that means no travelling and involves all the family and some friends. We have been asked to become official food tasters on specific products. Each week from now on I will be sent a list of things to pick up from my local Iceland and give the food marks out of 10 for taste, value, appearance etc. I have told the boys it is now an official job and they will be paid 20p per item reviewed if they write it all down. As Rob is vegetarian I also enlisted the help of some friends and their children.

One of the items was a family barbeque pack which seemed like a perfect excuse for a little party! Everyone took it very seriously and gave me scores and quotes on every product. At one point we had 5 adults and 12 children in the house, so I think we were a legitimate test group. Luckily my house is well equipped for dealing with children and they were amused by playing on the trampoline, on the Wii and having a Lego building competition. Isn’t it funny though if you get out a box of Lego, it is always the adults who end up building things long after the children have moved onto something else. It was a lovely relaxed evening despite the unavoidable chaos of that many people in one space. I am looking forward to seeing the next list of products to test.

I have also been sent some exercises and a work out DVD in preparation for filming of the Christmas adverts in London next week. I have been trying to fit this in around work, school holiday entertainments, Luke’s birthday preparations, food tasting, general housework and making a short film of our lives for Iceland. Unfortunately this hasn’t left a very big time slot and it’s very hard to concentrate on exercises with two little boys laughing at you and Luke making helpful comments like “why aren’t you doing it the same as that lady on TV!” I am just hoping that my normal busy routine is a good stamina builder too when it comes to the dancing in London, but am determined to fit in a few more goes even if it means being laughed at.

So far this holiday we have managed two cinema trips, the first one just had one hiccup when Sam spilt the entire contents of his pop corn in the queue just as I was saying “Sam you are going to drop your pop corn like that”. The second one had a slightly bigger hiccup when the car petrol hose fell off on the way home and the fire brigade were called to close the area and hose everything down whilst we waited on a busy road in the centre of Bristol for the break down truck. On the plus side though the boys did enjoy meeting the firemen and seeing the fire engine! We are taking Luke and his friends bowling later in the week for his 7th birthday so am just keeping fingers crossed that goes smoothly!

I hope you can join me again soon to hear if all Luke’s birthday wishes came true, and to hear more about the exciting filming of the Iceland Christmas adverts.

Ellie
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