Meet Daniel

Born on Wednesday 29th December 2010, 5.50am at home here in Brighton.
He entered the world just as his big brother Samuel woke up (usual time, but probably helped along a little by Mummy's vocal chords from the previous few minutes!)
Delivered by Ceri - the midwife joined us 10 minutes later, followed not long after by all of his siblings who couldn't wait to meet him.

He weighed 9lb 7oz at birth. Middle name (we're nearly sure) and more photos coming soon.

Michael and I are hoping for a bit more sleep soon, and happier (less tired children) all round. We're enjoying having little Daniel here with us though. :o)

Really cold!

I went with everyone to the girls last riding lesson a month ago (last week of November). It was FREEZING, and turned out to be the day before it began to snow so no wonder! I took a few pictures, but you can see how cold they all look.







Peter and Michael saying hello to a new horse.



Peter and I were especially grateful for a plug-in heater they have in a room next to the arena. It kept us going for a while! The girls needed it to warm up with afterwards too. That lesson was definately the last for the winter months!

I think it was the next day that it began to snow. Peter could hardly be kept indoors for any length of time, except when he got too cold outside. Samuel wanted to be outside too with everyone else, as he always does, but he wouldn't touch the snow for anything (not even with his shoes!)




After shovelling the snow away from our car and drive, Peter really wanted to go sledging. It wasn't the kind of snow for building snowmen anyway, so we went sledging round the corner from our home (or at least they all did - I watched!)





He was of course frozen to the bone when we'd been there just a short time (it didn't help that they were in the shade), and went home with Michael and Samuel after a while. His sisters enjoyed it though, although Rebekah was also frozen through and crying on the way home - as soon as she stopped sledging!

Getting colder

When we went to the London Temple in November, it was a particularly cold day.





Those (like Rebekah above) who wore warm wool socks were just fine going for a lovely fresh walk for a while. Those that weren't were quickly frozen to the bone and had to go inside to warm up!

We LOVED the red of these leaves. The children gravitated straight towards them. :o)









Samuel is fascinated by all animals (where his siblings will walk away from a dog, he walks towards them, and with all other creatures too). He was enjoying watching the ducks with Rachel here.





Hannah, as she often does, had made a little boat from a twig and a leaf, and they were all watching it float down the stream.







When it got to tea time, we drove to nearby Wakehurst Place (a National Trust property we like) and ate out tea in the car. Then wrapping up as warmly a we could we ventured out in the cold again to watch them turn the Christmas lights on on the largest living Christmas tree in the country.

More leaves

This is from a walk we took round the corner from our home just after the last leaf pictures! We'd been studying the different trees we found in the woods across from our home. Here, round the corner in the other direction there were so many other kinds of trees. The leaves had started falling faster, which is always fun to be in the middle of - playing in leaves is just fun! We love the colours and shapes of them too though.

Two little boys who LOVE to climb on rocks. :o)





Finding some good leaves.



Having fun swishing through them.



We all really loved this tree - the satisfying shape of it, and how it was only going yellow right on top.







Samuel wanted to be up in a tree,



just like his older siblings.





Aren't all the colours wonderful?!







I caught them still just for a moment!







Samuel watching his siblings play.



The girls had suddenly turned into horses, and Peter into a dog! He was playing catch with a stick - I had to throw it, and he used his mouth to fetch it just as a dog would!!



Peter likes to go up to a monument at the bottom of Wild Park near our home. What he really likes there are these two logs that have animals carved into the bark. They're fun to sit on too. It's a must for him to spend a bit of time there though.









Last but not least, these are some leaves we surrounded ourselves with at Thanksgiving. The larger ones hanging from the wreath were ones that the children had cut out of autumn coloured wool felt and then sewn the veins into - a reminder of the particular leaves (and trees) they had been recognising recording. The multicoloured strings of leaves are paper leaves full of the things we are each thankful for, as a reminder to us at Thanksgiving of all of our blessings. It was beautiful to have our special meal being showered (in a way) by more beautiful leaves.