With the sun and rain we have had over the last few weeks the flowers and weeds are looking healthy. I have lupins in pink, white and purple, poppies in orange, little round buds of the peonies ready to burst open in pink, white and burgandy and irises in mauve.

I am declaring chemical war on the bane of my gardening life, a weed which has come up every year and consumed much of my time. Last weekend I dropped in at a garden centre with a piece of the bane and asked for advice. I was directed to Mrs Schmidt’s office. Mrs Schmidt was not available but Mr Schmidt leaned back in his ample chair and peered at the bane. He did not know what it was but promised me he would find out. I don’t care so much what it is, just how to be rid of it.

Last summer my dad dug loads of it out, last month I dug loads of it out. As soon as the rain clears I am going to spray it, paint it, inject it if necessary. Then I am going to fill the spaces with pretty things.

I believe the job of the tooth fairy is getting a little complicated. I might be wrong; perhaps the tooth fairy is just not as focused on her job as she once was.

B6 recently lost his first tooth. He had been hoping for a loose tooth for 1½ years. When his tooth came out he put it in an orange plastic cup. The tooth fairy is accustomed to finding the tooth in a glass. He is sure he told the tooth fairy he wanted to keep the tooth; he wanted the money, but he wanted the tooth too, he said that. The tooth fairy has no recollection of that request.

Sadly, when he got up the morning after the first tooth came out, the tooth fairy had not dropped by. The tooth fairy felt dreadful, as you can imagine, missing a boy’s first lost tooth. So, she came in the the daytime, something she wouldn’t normally do. She took that tooth and replaced it with shiny coins. When the boy returned instead of being thrilled he was very unhappy. “Where is my tooth?” he demanded. “I wanted to keep it!” I explained that the tooth fairy was probably unaware of his wish, but this had no effect, he was inconsolable. He actually tossed the coins at me exclaiming that he just wanted his tooth back. (It was high drama for a minute there) We finally came to a compromise when I reminded him that the tooth next to the lost one was also loose, perhaps he could keep that one. Sigh.

On Saturday the next tooth came out. We were at a violin retreat all day so he wrapped it in a tissue and gave it to me for safe keeping. Yep, you guessed it, I forgot that tissue was holding the precious tooth and when I returned home I tossed it in the garbage. As Andrew said, I did what only a mother would do, I searched for the tooth and found it.  Enough said.

B6 left a note for the fairy this time. He doesn’t write his notes in words, he uses symbols. This note was stuck next to the cup holding the tooth and had his name, a picture of a cup with a tooth in it, a picture of a mouth with a gap, and a picture of a garbage bin with a cross through it. The tooth fairy may be lacking focus but I believe she got it right this time.

I was looking through our photos for a good picture of a bird on our feeders. I didn’t find a good one but I did find these photos that A10 took while we were at the Tulip Festival a week or so ago. She concentrated on locating the odd man out.

How thankful I am for my mother, who I spoke to last night and for my children who showered me with a few extra treats this weekend. Yesterday morning I was able to sleep in, something which hasn’t happened a lot lately. I was reading in bed listening to the sounds of industry in the kitchen for a while before I was summoned to a delicious breakfast. Fresh flowers from the garden were in the middle of the table and L12 and A10 had prepared fruit salad, pancakes and bacon for all of us.

This morning I woke to find I had a very painful shoulder, I think from the digging I was doing in the garden yesterday. L12 massaged it, Andrew massaged it but it is still very painful hours later. I did not want to miss church, however, as Andrew and L12 were playing with the worship team, B6, A10 and L12 were singing with Junior Praise and then just the girls were singing with a girl’s ensemble. They all sang and played beautifully. There were also home made cards this morning and a little hand made bag and an original watercolour this afternoon. I have a lovely family, but it doesn’t take Mother’s day for me to realise that.

When B turned 6 he started receiving an allowance. We explained that we would like him to learn to save for things, be generous and make wise purchases. When he was shopping for a gift for a friend a few weeks ago he saw something he very much wanted to own. After showing me the foam sword yesterday I think he was a little surprised when I said yes, he could buy it. I did explain that I didn’t think it was worth the price but I thought he would have fun with it.

I paid for it on the understanding that he would give me the money when he got home. Sadly, once back at home he could not find his money anywhere. The sword was placed in my room for safe keeping until he could find his cash! I wanted him to realise that having money is a responsibility and he should keep his in a safe place and remember where that place is. At bed time the money was still missing and he was a sad boy. Not, as I thought, because he couldn’t have his new sword, but because he was already having misgivings about his purchase. There was a different sword which he believed would be much more fun. I didn’t display much sympathy I’m afraid.

Having exhausted all the possible places in his room where a money box might be hiding I sent him down to the playroom to sort and search the toy box. No luck, but A10 saved the day by finding it in the dress ups. I was paid. He took possession of his sword and then the fun began(yes, it seems he can have some fun with his sword after all). At dinner time a pirate joined us complete with headscarf, ear ring and sword. My favourite part was not the costume though, it was the titles. He talked non-stop during dinner and had an answer for everything. His ship is the Black-eyed Tooth , his captain the Black-eyed Blood , his sword is Skeleton Claw and his name: Skinny. He even had the story ready, in a nutshell, if we wanted to know how he got his name. And he kept asking for rum!