My Dad's special birthday

My Dad's 60th birthday was at the beginning of this week. We went to a park in Solihull we like (same place as Sarah's birthday but the other end) and had a picnic in a beautiful bit of very light rain with Rebekah and Sarah (a bit) complaining that they needed to eat in the car. Peter was happy to have his Bob the builder raincoat on (putting a "Bob coat" on is a privilege rather than a chore!), and Sarah and Rebekah were satisfied once Gramps was holding an umbrella for them!








We had a lovely walk by the lake there and around the nature reserve that we like to go to. The girls all wanted to draw a few things in their nature books. Rebekah was especially excited to, which was very sweet, as are the pictures of her sitting on her own drawing in her book. Dad spotted a heron way up in a tree across the pool there, which disappeared its head for a while to have a doze while we were watching. The children enjoyed the playground for a while while Dad recovered from having forgotten to take his walking stick with him. Poor Dad was very tired and in quite a lot of pain I think, but it was still lovely to spend the day together doing lovely but normal things, and laughing a lot.
















Sweet Peter was so tired as he hadn't had a sleep that he fell asleep straight away on the way home. He didn't even wake up as we carried him into the house in his car seat.



Happy birthday to my special Dad.

Hannah is 8

On Hannah's 8th birthday we had a quiet day at home. She enjoyed her cards and presents, including her new blue set of scriptures. A lot of church type presents, but a few fun things as well. Hannah chose some simple things she wanted to do through the day and had quite a grown-up birthday really - just doing what she felt like doing through the day without properly celebrating it!

On Sunday was her baptism after church, which was lovely. Quite a few people weren't able to be there, but it was lovely to have as many of her family there as possible, and some people from the ward that she had invited. She was very excited and so was I. I was like a little girl jumping up and down with excitement. I can't really describe the feeling when she was baptised, but it was really wonderful. We all had a part to play in the baptism service, and we enjoyed singing When I Am Baptised as a family, with Hannah singing the second verse on her own. I'll let the pictures tell how happy an ocassion it was for all of us who were there.

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We had a wonderful day, but after being at church for eight hours, and getting home at nearly the children's bedtime, only to need to cook and eat a proper meal, we were all exhausted, and most of us also felt extremely achy. As we have family home evenings in a Sunday afternoon again for Michael to be there, and knowing he would be away again for the following six days on his plumbing course, we knew we had to do something anyway, besides collapse on the settee (which several of us had already done). So we had a short family home evening that met our needs and helped us feel really good again - a foot soaking and journal writing for the day family home evening! We all had a go soaking our feet in wonderfully warm water with some essential oils added in, which did the trick after about ten minutes in helping us feel able to eat tea and go to bed. We didn't all manage to write our journals, but we made a start at least. Here we are looking a whole lot happier after having soaked for a while, and Hannah writing for the first time in her new special birthday journal.

Smiley Sarah is Six!

Sarah's 6th birthday was early last week. We celebrated it with family (Granma, Gramps, Nanny and Daddy) on the previous Saturday by spending a little bit of time together at home before going out. The "cake" she had asked for was a fruit pattern, as you can see in one of the pictures.


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Then we went bowling. Sarah even got a strike on her last go! :o)





Then Nanny and Granma were able to stay and eat tea with us as well, which we were all pleased about.


















Then on Sarah's actual birthday, she chose to go to a park in Solihull that we used to visit regularly as it was near to Michael's work, but haven't been to for more than a year. We were joined by Auntie Rachael and Elijah, and also by Claire who is living with them at the moment and the children all love to be with. We had a picnic lunch, and then spent a lovely long time playing. As it was in school time it was a lot less busy than it could have been, which was really nice.





When the others left we had a rest and a snack and then spent a short while climbing some lovely trees before going home. Or at least the children did. Can you see Hannah half way up one of them? Peter had a go sitting on a branch too, but I didn't want to step back to take a picture of him! Rebekah made the discovery though that she loves climbing trees, as you just might be able to see from that gorgeous big smile!





Oh, and it was Hannah's birthday today. So I'll tell you about that sometime soon.

A day out

We got our car back two Saturdays ago. My Dad is helping us out with it for a little while as he has another car now which is paid for. It will help us to move house come September, and we will enjoy getting to places we couldn't really without it until then. After that we'll have to see. We're not too sure how long we'll keep it for, but it will be a huge help for now, including leaving us a little time on Saturdays to spend with Michael, as the shopping and girls dancing classes shouldn't take as long as on the bus.

Michael is at the moment finding travelling up to Leeds on the train (for a 10 week plumbing course) preferable to driving, especially on the weeks when we can get tickets for about the same as or less than the cost of the petrol. It does mean an earlier start, but is much less stressful, you don't have to concentrate non-stop, and he can either sleep or get things done. He's enjoying the course a lot. He spent the first three weeks staying in York with a friend from his youth and her husband. He hadn't known until fairly recently that she was in this country, and enjoyed spending some time with them and catching up a little. Hopefully we'll all get to meet them before long. From this week he is sharing a house with a couple of guys from the course that he gets on really well with, and who are also doing some extra exams along with him, so they should be able to help each other out there if needed.

I promised the children that when we got the car back, and before all the schools break up for the summer, that we would visit Coombe Abbey again, this time midweek so it's not packed and we can enjoy it a whole lot more. We had a picnic lunch there, and Hannah managed to wait until she'd finished eating before climbing the nearest tree. :o)



Then we had a long time playing at the park there, mostly on all the things that aren't usually available when it's packed full of children. We had a lovely little walk through a wooded area and down to the lake to see the birds. We had taken a few identification guides with us, including one on dogs, which I think helped the girls to be a little more interested in all of the dogs (taking a closer look as they tried to identify them) and a little less scared! Rebekah got pretty tired, so she got interested in identifying the ducks and geese while she had a rest in the pushchair, and everyone else spent some time around the birds, Rachel and Hannah drawing them (of course!) in their nature books.








You probably get a better idea of what our children our like from the little video snippets, so I hope you enjoy these few, and maybe get a small feel for their characters and what they enjoy.









Rebekah had wanted a go on the "big swings" (older swings), so we went by the park on the way back to the car. Sarah then promptly made a friend and the two were inseparable, so we stayed quite a lot longer. It was nice though.





I took that really because it was fun watching Rachel and Hannah looking so much alike, which they do sometimes. We ended up eating tea (dinner) on the way home, and not getting back until nearly bedtime. It was a fun day.

Slow day

Today was a slow and sometimes quite surreal day. Gradually through the morning everyone got dressed, some after a shower, and meanwhile our living room was covered with the cushions from the settees with all sorts of things going on all over the place. In the end it was turned into a ship surrounded by sea (it's so handy having a dark blue carpet sometimes!) Hannah was of course the ship builder, and quite imaginative she was too. She takes creativity very seriously sometimes, but always has fun with whatever she does. :o)





It was an anything goes day really, as everyone had got to bed at an unbelievably late hour and I knew that just remaining friends throughout the day with everyone working on not enough sleep would be the priority for the day, that and eating regularly so that nobody would also be fighting blood sugar feelings! We nearly managed both of those. :o) Whatever time the children make it to bed it seems to take me another three hours to be ready to go to bed myself. It's very silly because I am also tired, and on the nights when I'm determined to go to bed with them it's when there are a load of things still to be done that just take so much longer when it gets late!

We had a bit of fun through the day, and I had a lovely quarter of an hour playing in the garden just with Peter mid afternoon. Peter actually asked to go in the baby swing, which he doesn't seem to even like doing normally now (it used to be his favourite thing to do. So I sat and pushed him. It was lovely and peaceful out there, with the leaves above us, and just the sounds of nature. There are various birds that live in the trees among the neighbouring gardens, so it is often a beautiful place to be. He wanted to play with the steering wheel on their climbing frame as well, and climb right across the top of course. A good thing for him to want to practise that when I'm right there anyway!

The biggest goal for the day, as well as being patient and kind to each other while nobody was on top form, was to get to bed on time tonight. I just had to break the habit. Having any real plans would have stopped that from happening while working on not enough sleep. We didn't do too badly, and we even managed to get out to post Grandad's birthday package (albeit for the next day!) Let's hope it makes it there in time. :o)

There Goes Sarah!

We had a busy and exhausting day yesterday, and got to nearly the end of the day not having done what we'd hoped there would be time for, so we just went and did it anyway. :o) Michael noticed a few weeks ago that Sarah now fitted the bike Rachel has recently grown out of - the one WITHOUT stabilisers. Sarah has been dying to have a go at riding it, and we promised her (with Daddy being away in the week now) that the first Saturday with some free time we would go to the park and she could give it a try. We couldn't make it to the park, but did get to a playing field nearby that we could ride/walk to, which worked just fine.

I went to video Sarah on her first attempt and found the camera was set to take a photo, then I got a bit flustered switching it quickly and managed to turn the video on and straight back off again, but hopefully you'll get the idea! ...






This was her second go at it ...




...and here's the one Sarah wanted me to put on here! ...



Michael was very pleased to have another first-time rider. That's the easy, and fun, way to be doing it. Well done smiley Sarah! :o)



Meanwhile all Hannah wanted to do was climb trees, which she finally got to do! Here she is hoisting herself up to a branch. She very happily climbed halfway up the tree and stayed there until it started to rain and it was time to go home. Climbing is definately one of her favourite things to do. :o)



Michael stayed up late fixing our oven which had dramatically given up the ghost last Wednesday. Thankfully he has now brought it back to life, which will make this week a little easier. Here he is as he was woken up this morning - Happy Father's Day!!



Happy Father's Day to all other Dads too. We hope you had a great day. :o)

My day

My 32nd birthday on Tuesday was an interesting day. More challenging than a normal day, but only really because of my emotions I think in the end. We had a few upsets, and some great plans going a little upsidedown. Peter added his own bit in by blocking up the toilet with the contents of the bathroom bin (it was him one of the times anyway, and once again tonight!) A normal day I suppose really!

It was sad not having Michael around, as he is in Leeds for 10 weeks, home weekends apart from a few Saturdays. Sarah is adamant he has to be here for her birthday, so I have suggested to her having her birthday on a different day to make that happen - we'll see! He had a friend bring round some flowers later in the day though which was a lovely surprise. It was nice to have a few cards from others that came this week to open - they hadn't been hidden in the treasure hunt we got a bit too stuck on! Lovely thought of Michael anyway though. :o) One of the cards really cheered me up in the morning, and gave Rebekah something a bit more positive to think about.

Rachael and Elijah brought their card and present round in the morning, and stayed and ate lunch with us, which was nice, and seemed to cure some of Rebekah's disappointment at not spending the day with anyone else. Peter was suddenly much more active too with a cousin to run around with in the garden. The girls did a great job of my fruit "cake" - they made a flower. I bought my favourite fruits on Saturday for them to use (nectarines, strawberries and red grapes), and we all enjoyed that mid-afternoon once Peter had woken up from his nap. Peter was great at singing Happy Birthday along with everyone else. He sang the last half of it then, and then he was humming it at bedtime, so we all sang it together again then. He came running from his bedroom to join in when he heard. We started again for him and he sang it all from beginning to end. It was really fun. He just doesn't stop being cute in his own natural little way.

So not so bad I suppose - it just felt it. Here are a few pictures to show you I must be wrong! Hope you enjoy their cake. Oh, the clips in my hair were Rebekah decorating me for my birthday - six of them, four of them dangly ones she had for her birthday recently. :o)






Yesterday we sat and watched some Thomas the tank engine episodes we'd rented from the library. With popcorn of course. That was fun. We have decided we prefer the books though. Last night as I went in the girls room to read them a story before going to sleep, they burst into singing "Happy Birthday to you" again, and gave me a couple of presents. Hannah was also ready to film me on the video camera. Peter had kept running in and out of the room - very excited! They had taught him to say "Hip-Hip-Hooray" as well, which he did after they had done quite a few times. It maybe was a day late, but was a lovely happy surprise. :o)