Dotty’s 8th birthday celebrations! Look at her sweet reaction to her Sylvanian Families birthday cake. Just as wholesome as when she saw her pile of gifts this morning and yelled : “oh my f**king god!!”
Great news : we’ve won a thing…. thanks to the herculean efforts of the ridiculously talented @davidosflynn and incredible development team of @michaelhortonesq@jackryeo Sefunmi Olatunbosun, Tom Blakeson also huge shout out to @captainturner - who it 100% wouldn’t have happened without- ditto massive thanks to @florian_wieder@johnadamstv@rubenix87@denisekadoo@joanbucc@timhincks and of course the legends at the @bbc and @nbc including @clodaghb2b@jowallace2002@steveo_m33@steve_dickert , and the mighty Ed Havard and Michael Jochnowitz.
Bad news: press release initially featured picture of me seemingly wearing a shirt made out of my curtains - a picture so bad it was replaced by the press dept. @daisyayliffe is now very annoyed as she took said photo and continues to defend its worth.
Wonderful service today where mum - alongside many other heroes - was awarded the order of St John for ever so kindly donating her kidneys to someone lucky enough to be wondering around Leeds still (maybe even going to Sunday’s semi final!!) when they may no longer have been here at all, without her extraordinary gift.
Whilst you’d never want tragedy to strike- we’re so grateful that when it did we knew mum had made her feelings known about organ donation- (and everything else!!) - but for anyone less forthright/Yorkshire than mum, (ie everyone) there’s a link in bio for the organ donor register. Might just save a life like mum did.
Big shout out to Raz the NHS nurse - pictured- who took incredible care of mum- and all of us (we were far needier) and found a donor with minutes to spare. Gutted @ollywicks_am couldn’t be there but he’d have made it even harder to deal with the farty sounding floorboards at a somber occasion . Gutted I made Olive cry beforehand . Elated I made it back for Violet’s birthday cake after .
Took kids to Disneyland Paris and loved the fact they blast out Disney music constantly no matter where you are- you can’t help but do a jaunty dance. Life would be much improved if that music was piped in everywhere : A&E, council tips, at state funerals etc.
Love to all the mums. I wish ours was around to be appreciated for her off-the-chart enthusiasm, Olympic level parenting skills, and Barnsley’s best tan. But no moping, she’d have had none of it. So instead we had a lovely weekend at @ollywicks_am and @jade.mitchell2 ‘s Arlobirthdayfest
Mum’s are the greatest , particularly @daisyayliffe . Daisy loves her own mum too - but that doesn’t stop her parading her around in a cargo bike, forcing her to look like a simpleton.
In 2025 we lost mum and we lost Adam 💕
We sea kayaked, surfed in the Pacific, travelled across Canada by train, spotted a bald eagle, sold the kids to a sweatshop, the kids gained two cousins, had a rabbit over for breakfast, watched our mates get married, saw Oasis and danced naked into 2026.
Merry Christmas from the Isle of Delight!
Got an 11ft tree for 30 quid - which @daisyayliffe decorated beautifully using £3 worth of gold lame . Managed not to burn the roast. And had a glorious Christmas morning run in the sort of tropical sunshine mum would have busted out the bikini for - and the windchill factor of -50 wouldn’t have deterred her. Hope yours was as much fun. Xxx
The other day I said there should be a festive “set piece on earth and good will to all men“ chant in the North Bank. It didn’t catch on, but Daisy made a giant banner celebrating Christmas and the art of the set-piece. I took it to the game last night, and the first goal came from a set piece, the second goal was scored by Jesus. What I am saying is whatever you want in life do as Daisy did and scrawl it on a massive banner.
I’ve currently got her making a 60ft “Farke The Herald Angels Sing” tapestry in the hope it makes Leeds trounce Brentford this afternoon.
#arsenal #setpiece #christmas
Welcome baby Olive !!! What a beauty - am a proud uncle once again - huge congratulations @clairelouise2105@adclarkie v v glad to have a whole day of hugs . She slept like a baby even when I celebrated Leeds’ 96th minute equaliser, against Liverpool (whose defence were equally sleepy) and despite kids having a full on rave for 2 hours. Their comedown: a trip with dad to railway museum. Ta Yorkshire. Thy didn’t disappoint.
