April hasn't been such a great month so far. My bunny Popsel died at the proud age of 12. He had been living with my mother in Germany for the last few years.
Matthias keeps having problems in school. Last week he and some friends got caught throwing stones over the fence, from the school grounds into the neighbouring polo club. They were not amused, and neither was the school. I don't think it was his idea, it's just that he copies his friends and doesn't think if it is ok to do certain things. We will have him assessed by the council this year, so hopefully he will get a statement of special needs. He will also see a new child psychologist, who works for a local charity.
The spring flowers are all out now, but two weeks ago we had a day of snow, which is a rare event in this part of England. Last weekend was mostly rainy, and this weekend will be just as bad. Hopefully we'll have a few sunny days during our trip to Norway at the end of May.
The first photo shows Martin wearing "scary glasses", he insisted on having his photo taken.

Our trip to Andalusia

On Easter weekend we drove up to Stansted Airport and hopped onto a plane to southern Spain. Just when we were ready to start, a blizzard moved in. The plane had to be de-iced, but eventually we took off. We landed in Jerez de la Frontera, a town famous for Sherry and Andalusian horses.

The first night we spent at a lovely small country hotel in the mountains of Grazalema National Park. It was raining hard while we were driving to the hotel, but after that we had 5 days of sunshine and temperatures around 20 Celsius.

We went for some lovely walks, during which we saw many interesting animals and plants. The area is ideal for watching big birds like eagles and vultures. We stayed in a holiday cottage for the rest of the time. It was cosy, but the neighbours' chickens were a noisy lot. Our cottage was in one of the "Pueblos Blancos", white villages, in the mountains. From the terrace we could see all the way to Gibraltar and the mountains of Morocco.

On one day we drove to Ronda, a town built on a set of cliffs around a deep canyon. It was very impressive and no good place for people with vertigo. On our last day we looked at the Roman town of Balea Claudia, which is located at a wonderful beach. At this time of year it was still rather quiet.

But I think I better let the photos do the talking:

Facebook is keeping me busy

Since I discovered Facebook, I have been neglecting my Blog even more than before. Sorry!!!

We have a lovely and quiet Christmas. No snow, as usual. We had about 3 flakes so far this "winter". The weather was so nice that I got impatient and made a new flowerbed and put lots of plants in it. Now we are having a week of frost every night, and I am worried about my little green friends. The frogs have been out and about for a while, before it got cold, and one night I counted 10 of them in our pond. No sign of toads and newts so far.

Sunnie finally got a boyfriend a few weeks before Christmas. His name is Cloud and he is a really friendly and naughty little boy. He was advertised on the internet, because his owners did not want him any longer. He had been a birthday present for a 6-year old girl, and she got bored of him after only 2 weeks. He was tiny when I got him, he got taken away from his mother much too young. He's the grey bunny in the photo, Sunnie is the red-brown one.

I am currently going insane about this year's holidays. I am trying to plan some trips, but it is all so complicated. I have found people to look after our rabbits, at least. I had booked a flight to Norway for May, but the airline decided to cancel it without telling me straught away. They might be in money trouble. I called them and asked them for a refund, but now I can't find any other flights that are cheap enough. I have to hope that some airline will do a special offer soon. I have booked a cottage at the Norwegian west coast, and also one at a lake in Sweden for the middle of August. I just love to go to Scandinavia. I had planned to take Matthias to Iceland for his birthday, but the flights and everything else up there are sooooo expensive. Eastern Canada was another plan I had to postpone, due to the flights being too expensive. Some day....!!

I am feeling a bit sick at the moment, because Alistair was watching one of those survival programmes on TV. Some guy, who thinks he's really cool, does stupid things in the wilderness, with the excuse to show people how to survive out there. What really upset me tonight is when he took a cute little tree frog and bit off its head. It was still alive. And then he killed and grilled a turtle. I don't think they need to show this on TV. I hope Matthias hasn't seen this episode, he'd be very upset, too.

Getting dark early now

Waaaaaaaaah, time flies, and I am too busy on the bunny forum and on Facebook, and keep forgetting my little blog here

Martin started primary school, and so far he is enjoying it, although the motivation to do his homework is pretty low. His thoughts are usually with his girlfriend Lea, who gives him a lot of kisses. Matthias is doing ok in school so far this year. The pressure of getting grades now makes him work harder.

During half term we went to Devon for a week and enjoyed some lovely walks along beaches and on clifftops. We even found some fossils from the Jurassic age. Our bunnies went to a bunny boarding place during that week and they got along ok there, but when we came back, the older three started to attack little Sunnie more and more, so I had to separate her. Now I will find her her own boyfriend.

The garden is looking nice, with autumn colours and the usual digging activities by the local squirrels. Fish and frogs are doing fine, and soon it will be time to put up the bird feeders and defend them from the squirrels.

Back to school

This year's summer holidays have passed faster than ever. We've had the builders in our house for several weeks, because our landlord decided that we needed a new bathroom. So not much peace and quiet for us, although the boys went to Germany for two weeks to spend some time with their dad.

Matthias celebrated his 9th birthday in the middle of the holidays, so his new presents helped him survive the rest of the school free time. He is happy to be back at school now. Martin has his big day tomorrow, as he'll start his first year in primary school. He has already met his new teacher, she asked all children in her class to do a little test with her to check what they already know and where they will need some extra support. So tomorrow all the new children will be welcomed by the headmistress and then spend some time with their teachers in their future classrooms. There will be no sorting hat, but every child gets a cone shaped cardboard tube filled with sweets and little toys. I'll take some photos.

At the moment I have 5 rabbits here. Pennyand Snoopy have been bonded with little Luna, who is growing fast and slowly getting accepted by them. Then there is my foster rabbit Pete, who has found a new home, but is waiting to be bonded with two other rabbits by our bonding expert at her house. And last weekend we helped transport 7 baby rabbits from north of London to our local animal shelter, and I decided to keep one of them. Her name is Sunnie, and she's a harlequin lop. She will complete my little bunny family, hopefully she will bond well with the other three.

We also have a tank with triops (tadpole shrimps) on our window sill. It was a birthday present for Matthias, and these little living fossils grow extremely fast. Our pond is doing well. It's always filled with frogs, and our 8 fish are looking quite healthy, too. Our summer has been the wettest and coolest for many years, so there was not much need for watering the plants or refilling the pond.

Countdown to the summer holidays

One more week of school, then the boys are off school for the summer. Let's see how long it'll take until they are bored. Luckily their dad comes and takes them to Germany for two weeks. Then I will go to Germany for two days, for some shopping and family visits, then I will bring the boys back to London. I hope that there won't be any more terror attacks, otherwise the security at the airports will be really strict and waiting times unbearable for little kids.

Martin had his 6th birthday last month and will start primary school in September. I'll attach a photo of him, we blocked his door with a tower of presents and he was quite surprised when he got up in the morning.

The weather has been quite sad lately. This weekend we had the first real sunshine in a while. Yesterday I went to the Hampton Court Flower Show, the biggest of its kind in the world. I was a good girl and did not buy too many new plants, but it was just amazing to see the show gardens and all the new plant varieties. Our own garden is growing well, but the wet weather has helped snails and slugs to multiply. Our pond is always fun to watch. I put an aquarium on our window sill and everytime we find something interesting, we put it in there for observation. At the moment we have some baby newts and water snails in there.

Almost summer already

I am such a bad blogger. I should write something every week, but then again, not much is happening here at the moment. My dad came to visit us at the end of April. We had wonderful weather and he enjoyed the long walks along the river and through parks and the botanical gardens. The boys and I hadn't seen him for 3 years!

Our garden has been growing fast, and I have spent a fortune on interesting plants. The pond looks really nice now and is full of wildlife, e.g. frogs, toads, newts, tadpoles, goldfish, damselflies, etc.. I often sit on my new bench and watch the pond life.

I am now an official member of our local animal rescue and foster rabbits for them. At the moment I have a tan and white Dutch bunny named Duchess, as really sweet girl. I am also planning to adopt a thrid bunny and bond it with Snoopy and Penny. The baby in the photo is my favourite, but I don't know if it is a boy or girl, yet. I think Snoopy would only accept a girl. So fingers crossed!

Matthias has been doing a bit better at school. He even got two invitations to birthday parties this month. His behaviour is still not the best, though, and if he does not get organised during the next year or so, he may not be able to stay at this school. They don't have facilities for special needs children. The psychologists told me that everything gets better with age. I hope they are right. Martin's 6th birthday is coming up and he is very excited about it. His wish list is getting longer every day.

Finally, here are some photos of our garden, my foster bunny, the baby bunny I might adopt, and my dad, my boys and myself (looking stupid, as usual).

Update on our garden

Just some more photos of what it looks like right now.

Sweden was fun

We had a lovely time in Sweden. The cottage was perfect for us, and the weather was great most of the time. On Easter monday we had some snow, but that was fun for the boys, too. We spent most of the time out in the forests and at the little beach near our cottage. We also went to see the oldest oak tree in Sweden, because Matthias loves old trees. We had been there last year already, with Alistair's kids.

On the evening of our arrival we saw a moose beside the road. We also saw cranes, deer, hares and other cute animals. The mosquitoes only came out on our last evening in Sweden, because it was quite warm on that day.

Here are some photos of our cottage and the area it was located in.

Winter has returned just in time for spring

Another month has passed, and after some lovely warm spring weather, the cold wind and snow showers have returned. I hope my newly planted flowers and shrubs won't freeze. There has been a lot of digging going on in our garden during the last few weeks. As you can see from the photos, we have made quite an improvement to the garden. The first photo was taken in March last year, the second photo this week. You can see the pond, which needs filling and planting, but I will wait with that until we have come back from our trip to Sweden.

We also got a new hutch for the bunnies, with a ramp down into the run, so they can go up and down whenever they want to. I may use the old hutch to foster bunnies for a local animal rescue. ( I can't really work out how to put photos into the text at a certain place)

Matthias still gets into trouble at school, but not quite as often as before the holidays. One day an older child pushed him and he fell into a mud puddle. He was covered in mud from his hair down to his shoes, and he locked himself into the toilet for a whole hour. No one seemed to miss him, only me when I wanted to pick him up. After a while I found him crying in the toilet.

He is currently fascinated with volcanoes, so I suggested to go on a trip to Iceland some day. Lots of volcanoes there, and a good excuse to meet my friend Auslaug and her family. We haven't met in 20 years, I think, and she now has 3 adorable boys herself. There seems to be an abundance of boys among my friends. Kristy, my penpal in Utah, has two sweet boys, as well. And my best friend in Sweden, Kristina, had a baby boy last year.

Martin is ill at the moment, he has fever and a cough. He probably got it from Alistair and me , who have been ill, too. There are lots of germs going around at the moment. Hopefully we'll all be fine again by the time we go to Sweden (April 5). The boys are quite excited.

Last week we got a new car, a Toyota Prius with a hybrid engine. It is so quiet and it is exempt from the London congestion charge, which saves a lot of money.

Not a good week for my big boy

My son has had quite a hard time over the last few days. Due to his borderline autism he does not really understand social rules and tends to annoy or provoke his classmates. Yesterday he had mud thrown at him, and today I had to witness how another boy pushed him to the ground. Normally my son never tells me anything, but I can tell that something is wrong when he pretends to be ill so that he can stay at home. I am talking with him about different situations and how to react, but he often forgets what I told him. Hopefully it will get a bit better with age.

Not much else is new here. Just got rained upon while feeding the bunnies. It's a mild but wet week. A repeat of the 2007 Grammy Awards is on right now. Great to see the Police back on stage. They even promised to do a tour. Have to see if we can get tickets, Alistair's cousin is playing drums for the band. I saw Sting in concert twice, and he was great.

School photos

For all of you who have not seen photos of my boys lately, here are this year's school photos.

A new year, a new blog

Welcome to my new blog. Somehow I could not post on my old blog any longer, so I have decided to start a new one. Hopefully I will post more frequently from now on.

We had a nice and quiet Christmas. Alistair and I went to Devon for a week over New Years, while the boys were with their dad. We had dreadful weather, but luckily the cottage we had rented, was very comfortable. We could not go for many walks, in fact, the only time we made it from our cottage to the cliff path, we got blown back by a fierce hail storm. We enjoyed watching "Flushed Away" in the cinema, and bought ourselves a new flatscreen television and a DVD/VCR/HDD recorder. Now we can finally see 100 % of widescreen movies.

Our house and garden survived last month's bad storm without any damage. It was quite scary. I even brought my bunnies indoors because I feared that the hutch might get blown away. Since then we've had snow twice, but it never stayed on the ground very long.

Matthias has now been officially diagnosed with "borderline Asperger's Syndrome", but the psychologist said he should continue ging to a mainstream school. He should get certain privileges, though. I would prefer if he had a quite place to go to during break times, because he does get teased by some kids, and gets upset about it. Today he was in tears when I picked him up from school, his teacher was trying to calm him down. Obvisouly he'd been in an argument with other kids again.

Martin is doing fine, but is scared of quite a few things right now. He had to have his blood tested again this week, because he had had a tick a while ago, and he was not happy. Even a little spider on the carpet can make him jump.

Snoopy wants to show you how long he can stretch. And gets copied by Roger, the wood mouse, whom I caught in our bathroom last week. He's a free mouse again now, but if he returns, I may have to get some cruel traps.