It's Christmas

Last night I was sitting watching telly and the lights on the tree were twinkerling away. So I grabbed the camera and had a play about with the different settings and came up with some pretty good shots. 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS 

Little things can mean so much

While playing with Alyssa today, we had our first conversation.

Half Term part 2

On the Sunday we had the Primary presentation which was just wonderful. They all performed beautifully and it was a lovely day. After which we travelled down to Dads for a visit. On the Monday we headed over to Kathy and John's to pick up Charlotte for a visit to Hampton Court. What a beautiful palace it is. We really do have such a rich history in this country and I love having the opportunity to visit and share it with my children. Now as my kids all love Horrible Histories at the moment, they were thrilled at the thought of going to see where Henry the 8th had lived. We were a little disappointed when we found out the King Henry was resting that day and not seeing any visitors. But we were lucky to meet his 5th wife Catherine Howard.

It was a lovely day and finished off by meeting up with Kathy for a hot chocolate and a rather enormous piece of cake. Not sure it gets any better.

In the court yard

Dad taking a little rest with Alyssa. We did a lot of walking that day.

Look at those beautiful faces.

In the beautiful gardens at the back of the palace.

Meeting Queen Catherine Howard

We finished our visit to Dad with a trip down to the London Temple where we were able to meet up with some wonderful friends Andy and Pippa. The kids loved playing with Adien and Harley and seeing the temple.

Half Term part 1

Back in October the kids had half term and Spencer had booked the week off so we were ready for a fun filled week. And that's exactly what we had. On the first day we used our return ticket to go to the West Midlands Safari Park. It was a great day because we actually went on the Friday which was a teacher training day so it was empty. It was the week before Halloween so there were pumpkins and ghost everywhere. As we walked in Elijah looked up and saw a ghost hanging from the celling and he said

"Look mummy, it's a dementor" I think he might have seen Harry Potter a few to many times.

I just love this one of Faith, although I'm not sure she will.

We had a 'picninc' as soon as we got there, food always comes first ;)

Faith in the Lemur Wood

We have been here lots of times and the lions are always over by the walls. I have NEVER seen them this close before. They are such amazing creatures.

It was the best start to what was going to be a great week.

We will remember them

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

We have a war memorial at the end of our road and every Remembrance Sunday on the way back from church I would see the poppy wreaths that had been placed there earlier that day. Well as we have church in the afternoon this year, I said that we would take a walk down near 11 o'clock and see what they do. As Spence opened the front door he saw the scouts walking down our street in a parade to the memorial. It was lovely to follow them down and watch and partake in their service. I was so proud as our children stood with us and observed the 2 minute silence perfectly. At the end of the service we were able to go and take a closer look at the wreaths that had been laid and even find the name of a distant relative of Spencer's on the memorial. But it was bought home to me when an old lady (on the left in the picture) took the time to show the girls the wreath she had laid and pointed out her brother's name on the memorial. He had fought in the first world war. She said 'It was along time ago, but I still remember him'.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. ALWAYS.

Happy Halloween

From a black cat, a friendly green witch, Stupid Deaths (from Horrible Histories) a little devil and the cutest little witch you've ever seen.

Our Anniversary

Our Anniversary always falls during half term. This week Spencer had the whole week off. We packed our week full of outings and visits but I'll leave that to another blog.

Anyway being so busy all week, neither Spence or myself had managed to get the other a present or even a card. It was our first day back at home after being away for a few days so we were having a lazy day as we were heading out in the evening. The kids had been down stairs for a while and had told us not to come down as they were doing a 'Surprise'. They do say this quite alot so I didn't take much notice and carried on with what I was doing.

Well a while later they called us and said

"Your surprise is ready"

As we got to the top of the stairs we found arrows on the floor point the way we should go. When we reached the living room we found 2 wrapped presents and 6 cards. They had each made 2 anniversary cards for us and (the cheeky monkeys) had found 2 boxes of chocolates that I had bought earlier in the week to start my Christmas stock. Bless them they had found the time to give our 10th wedding anniversary the respect it deserved much more than we had.

In the evening the older 3 were taken by Auntie Julie and Uncle Jared to the cinema as a treat to see Lion King in 3D. While Me, Spence and Alyssa went out to dinner. As we got home and they were going up to bed, Faith turned round and said

"Did you have a lovely anniversary Mummy and Daddy?"

10 years and 4 kids later, I'm so glad they are here to remind us what a blessing those 10 years have been.

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY TO US X

WE LOVE SCHOOL

Can't believe it's been 2 months since my last blog, so lazy.

But anyway we have been back at school for 6 weeks now. Faith has the same teacher as she had in year 1, Mr Corfield along with Mrs Forest who are both lovely and so Faith, as always, LOVES SCHOOL.

Phoebe has a brand new teacher, brand new to the school and brand new to teaching. I have to admit I was not impressed and was really worried that this was going to be another bad year for Phoebe. But after parents evening on Thursday I have to swallow my words. She is really lovely and is very on the ball in regards to how Phoebe is doing. I think the fact that we have only had one morning of crying from Phebe's in 6 weeks (and that was dew to the fact I dropped her off first instead of Faith) as oppose to it happening at least twice a week last year speaks volumes. So I have to say Phoebe LIKES SCHOOL.

Then we have Elijah. He has started nursery and goes 5 mornings a week 8:45 - 11:45 and HE LOVES IT. He jumps out of bed in the morning and after he has woken me up with his "pssst, is it morning? Can I have breakfast" He's next question is "Is it school today?" He is so excited that he gets to go to school with Faith and Phoebe. So we can definitely say Elijah LOVES SCHOOL.

So we will keep working on it with Phebe's but for now I am very happy with 2 LOVES and a LIKE.

My Little Morning Sunshine

Alyssa is FINALLY sleeping through.

My first thumb sucker
And this is what I am greeted with every morning.

Phoebe is 5

Well this year Phoebe turned 5 so it's her year to have her whole class party. (We decided when we had Faith that they can have a whole class party when they turn 5, a big party when they turn 8 for their baptism and one last big party when they turn 12)

So Phoebe made her list and I gave her teacher a few spare to give to anyone she had forgotten. We decided to have the party at the chapel and auntie Julie was bringing her parachute. I was expecting about 24 children, but with 8 children turning up who hadn't replied and a few siblings coming along we ended up with 36 children. My limit is about 8 max so you can imagine I went into panic mode.

Luckily Auntie Julie was there to step in and with her teacher voice she soon had them all doing exactly what she wanted them to do. Then with Auntie Sarah and Grandad doing face painting and Daddy setting up the play tunnels and doing the music it turned out to be a huge success.

End of another school year

Well it's the end of another school year and it's been crazy to say the least.

We got Faith's SAT results and she did amazingly well. She got 3's for Maths, Reading and Writing. She has worked so hard this year and it has helped that she has had a lovely teacher Mr Oakley who knows her so well that he has been able to help her over come any problems that she may have had through the year. She has been lucky enough to have him as her teacher for 2 years and will really miss him when she goes in to year 3. A perfect example of how well he knows her is when he wrote in her report

"Faith is very articulate with her words and can get straight to the point in hand. Sometimes however, Faith can make her answers so long and confusing that she forgets what she wants to say"

When I read this I actually laughed out loud because it sums Faith up so perfectly.

Faith and Mr Oakley

Phoebe had a hard first year of school. We had several mornings through the year where there were lots of tears about going and we never really worked out what it is that she doesn't really like about school. And as a result she is a little behind the targets that they are set for the end of the year. BUT she keeps going and we have found out that she has quite a talent for Art and with Auntie Sarah's summer school I know she'll soon be all set to take on year one with her brand new teacher.

It was a difficult end of year for the school as well with 3 of it's long term staff retiring. Mrs Friedel left after 35 years (She even remembers Spencer when he was there), Mrs Thacker after 24 years and Miss Brown who ran the nursery for 10 years. It's sad to see such lovely teachers leaving but I'm sure the new teachers will bring a new spirit to our newly formed primary school.

So with Faith having one of her favourite teachers Mr Corfield again, Phoebe having a NQT who will hopefully be full of wonderful new ideas that will inspire her and Elijah starting nursery with a brand new nursery leader, roll on September. Lets see what the new school year will bring.

Alyssa's Blessing

It's a bit late but a couple of weeks ago we had Alyssa's blessing. It was a really lovely day with family and friends and way too much food.

The lovely Priesthood holders who were in the circle. Uncle Jared and Simon would have been there as well had it not been for traffic and a sat nav with a mind of it's own.

All the cousins together

New traditions

Well today is my Mum's birthday, the first one since she's been gone. We planned on all being together for the day but with school and work it just wasn't very pratical. So I decided to start a new family tradition. My mum was famous for her shepards pie. So from now on, every 17th June we will have shepards pie for dinner followed by Betty Crocker cake.

We love you Mum

Everyday Life

We've had a busy couple of weeks round here. We've had eye test, immunisations, 2 sports days, visit's from Papa, Sarah and Jared moving in just 10 minute walk away, finally getting some practice words that we've been working on for weeks, interviews for new teachers at the school, 2 teeth being taken out (that was me and not something I want to do again)and first real smiles.

2 school sports days for the girls and the only one who came away with a certificate for winning a race was Elijah, and very proud he was too.
Wow who'd have thought everyday life could be so busy.

Beautiful Pictures

I couldn't believe it when I was down loading the pictures I had taken at the weekend on our big camera and look what I found.

I had no idea that Sarah had taken these pictures of Alyssa straight after she was born. She looks so scared and swollen but it's so lovely to have those first moments captured forever. They are a reminder of how tiny and precious they are and what a special gift we have been given by our Heavenly Father to look after these amazing little spirits. Thank you Sarah xx

Here are some other pictures we have captured over the last 6 weeks.

Faith and her clone. Here is what Alyssa will look like in 7 years.


(My new favourite picture of Phoebe, she looks so proud of her new baby sister)
Meeting Great Grandad for the first time