Full on Weekend [long].

The trouble with working for a living is that all the fun stuff has to be fitted in around it. There isn't enough time in the week to do all the things you want to do, if you do all the things you have to do as well. The past few days have been a gravity defying feat of trying to fit everything in.

I went to see my friend Sarah on Friday evening. Her husband was away all week, so it was a good excuse for a girlies night in and a chat. I brought round some pretend wine (virtually alcohol free because I had to drive home again afterwards) and we talked until late. That was really nice. We are hoping to go camping together in the summer. We're planning Northern Ireland with my four kids, her three girls, and possibly another friend, Jo, and her three boys. Should be good (or at least fun chaos) for a couple of weeks.

Saturday was manic. The kids had their swimming lessons, then Elaine brought her three boys over to play. Elaine had a concert she was singing in so it made things a little easier for her. Anyway, because it is the school Xmas Fete today (Sunday), Mel wanted to decorate a cake for the competition being run. Of course, if one wants to do it, then they all do....

I had 7 Swiss rolls - one for each child - bowls of icing and melted white chocolate and jelly tots and sprinkles and writing icing... all over the table. It was a lovely sticky hive of activity for a little while.

Once the cakes had been decorated, we left them to set and went to meet Sarah down the forest, where we got our first taste of what it would be like to take 10 children camping. It's kind of like a school trip - there are kids everywhere. So, we let them burn off some steam and get coated in mud at the same time, which is what kids do best.

We went home for tea, and the boys got picked up. Then I had just enough time to get changed and find that having three girls means you have no lipstick left when you want it, but that they all blame each other and their brother. So, we raced out in the rain to the Bewdley Mountaineering Club Xmas meal. Most of them have never seen me not wearing jeans and hiking boots. It was out at an Indian restaurant I've not tried before. We very much enjoyed it, and the food was marvellous, but it meant another late night.

Today started off with at least a partial lie in. I carted the decorated Swiss rolls down for judging and placed them alongside some fabulous, professional looking cakes made into Santas, Xmas trees and snowmen. Our cakes were definitely the poor cousins, but I bet they didn't manage to do seven at once.

The Fete was good. I got some gorgeous wrapping paper, Saskia and Eartha got their faces painted, Mel won a Casper DVD and Donny won a necklace. Everyone got to see Santa, though Eartha has pointed out that he isn't the real Santa. The real one only comes on Xmas eve. (Silly Mummy. Get it right.)

Nick followed us home from the fete, having waited for the raffle draw. He won a large Xmas cake and, better still, Mel's cake won the Class 5 prize! Fabulous!

The weekend is still not over, as I have a friend coming over in a couple of hours for a bit of therapy, though I'm not quite sure where she's going to sit because the ironing is taking up most of the living room at the moment, and I suppose someone should feed the kids at some point.

Oh, and Mum has surprised me completely by agreeing to come to Beijing to walk the Great Wall with me. I have the coolest Mum!