Thanks, guys! Your timing has caught me by surprise! it is mid-morning here, I'm about to put a rocket under difficult child 3 who will NOT be happy - husband disabled and dismantled Microsoft MEssenger last night, scraped it off the computer. On our set-up, it's porous. So all is locked down and difficult child 3 will nOT be able to instant message his cronies on his favourite webnsite, the one he has been obsessed with for the last month, to the detriment of his schoolwork.
Positive side - hopefully he will be less distracted.
Negative side - stressing about this could make him MORE distracted! I am hoping to go out but if he needs a lot of redirection, I may need to stay home.
Next weekend easy child is coming up to Sydney for a medical conference, plus difficult child 1 and daughter in law can come for dinner, so we'll do the family celebration then.
by the way, I'm betting difficult child 3 does not know it's my birthday. He's a bit tick when it comes to such things! I'm cool with it, but would prefer he learn to get it right, rather than constantly rely on being prompted.
I'll tell you all later how the day turns out!
Marg