Anna-Belle

It's late but I just had to put this pic of Abbs on. I can't help but smile when I look at it. It's just so her-completely nuts. She loves her hat and wont go out without it. It also reminds me of how similar she is to Aimee. What did we do to have such nutty kids?

Hectic Week

What a week- well it all kicked off on Saturday with the kids school Christmas fair. Emmaleigh was singing in the school choir and her dance club were performing their routine form Oliver. As always she did a fab job-but then my opinion is completely objective of course- we also got to see Santa although Anna-Belle wasn't too impressed with this part. She wouldn't set foot inside the "grotto" without force! 

Sunday tea time whilst play "dogs" with his friend Danny managed to break the same bone in the same place on the other foot so Monday was spent in the hospital with the doctors trying to work out how he could have done this. So another week off school for Dan. So with putting up the decorations and the tree on Monday, the High Priest Christmas dinner, Christmas shopping, craft class, ski club, swimming, poorly Dan, ill Chris, car MOT and trying to decorate the kitchen I'm shattered and should really be in bed by now. 

The really great thing about this week has been the weather- it's been really cold and today we had loads of snow by our standards so it feels like Christmas. Emmaleigh even managed to make a snowman after school in the garden-love the winter.

Emmaleigh singing with the school choir in the Bridges Shopping Center today. She was great but as the put them in the entrance it was a pretty cold hour.

Anna-Belles first Santa (I think) She only stayed for the photo as she had chocolate in her hands! Below is a picture of Emmaleigh in her performance of Food Glorious Food form Oliver at the school fair. We were amazed at how well they all did. Very proud yet again!

Broken Bones!

After seven years of being parents and several trips to the hospital we have out first broken bone! Poor little Danny broke a bone in his foot chasing Amiee around the sofa playing tig! Aimee is mortified that he could brake a bone by falling over. Danny is just taking everything in his stride(no pun intended). He's being so brave, and even though he has to hop everywhere he still cleaned the bathroom with me and washed all the wood work up the stairs today. (He did beg to help me- I didn't make him do it)Anyway he really did earn his Happy Meal for dinner. I'll put a pic on asap.

Skiing

Emmaleigh and Aimee have been learning to ski for about 8 months and they are both doing great.  They practise each Tuesday night at the ski slope at the back of our house.  Emmaleigh was asked to enter a competition but unfortunately (or fortunately not quite sure) it was on a Sunday.

Halloween and Bonfire Night

Danny and Anna-Belle getting stuck into their toffee apples.

Danny and his mate enjoying their food and the fire.

Better late than never, finally got round to putting some pics on from Bonfire night. (still waiting for my friend to send me some pic from Halloween) This must be the fifth year we've hosted the ward bonfire party and I love it. Autumn is my fav season.

Our Stars!

We were very proud of Emmaleigh and Aimee when they both were awarded 'Star of the Week" at school. Emmaleigh was awarded it for being kind and helpful and Aimee was awarded it for asking good questions in class and doing great work all week. We're very proud of both of them.

Sherwood Forest

The kids had an inset day on Monday so rather than lazing around the house we thought we'd go visit my Mum, Dad and Grandma. As Mum and Dad still had to work we took Grandma and the kids to Sherwood Forest. I haven't been there since I was a kid but it was fab.

     

There were some amazing oak trees that were just so twisted it was great. 

The Major Oak, supposedly the tree Robin Hood hid in. The kids having fun below.

Sick Day

After spending the weekend with their friends at their caravan the kids ( Em, Aimee and Dan) came home a little worse for wear so I kept them at home today. Oh how I wished I'd sent them to school with a dose of calpol by dinner! 

Anyway the sun came out in the afternoon so we went out to plant the pots with daffodils and tulips for the spring. I can't believe I've been organized enough to plant them before march! We had some good fun can't wait for spring to see how they come out.

      

HUGE Spider

I know it's the time of year for big spiders but I nearly wet myself when I saw this one running towards me out the corner of my eye. The coin's a five pence, but that pic doesn't do it justice as it scrunched itself up. No kidding it was one of the biggest ones I've seen! Urghhhh

 Look at the thing- look how close it was- it was massive!

Scan Pics

As promised the pics of our latest little alien. Can you see the family resemblance? We should know next week if it's a little boy or little girl alien-can't wait. Danny says it's got to be a baby boy as we already have a baby girl. 

 For the less experienced of you out there-these are good pictures, especially as it seem to take after it's siblings and is incapable of being still for more than two seconds!

Chris' Birthday

It was Chris' birthday on Thursday, the ripe old age of 31!! As he's not a big cake fan we thought it would be fun to decorate lots of little cakes. The kids loved it.

 

Anna-Belle didn't quite get the concept-she just thought she could eat all the marshmallows and chocolate chips!

The final result! Yummy!

Doesn't Chris look thrilled

More old photos

I love having all our old photos on the computer. Here are just a few. Chris and I went to Paris for our first anniversary. We went to Parc Asterix which was great. This is a special picture as Chris who hates roller coasters went on the one in the background.

This was our first camping weekend together in the lakes. We went with some friends of ours. We couldn't resist jumping into this waterfall! It was freezing, but it was a great time.

10

This is one of our house before we had some work done. It was a picture like this that we saw on the details and fell in love with the cottage/Georgian look. I love our back garden as the sun (when it shines) always shines on the house so it is always warm in the garden!

I had to put this one in of Aimme just because she looks so much like Anna-Belle

   

Scan

Well it's official, there's one one in there!! I've never seen Chris look so relieved!  It was too early to tell whether Danny will get a brother but we should be able to find out in a few weeks. So my due date is March 9th yet another march birthday! I'll put the pictures of our little alien on later.

Wedding Pictures

We bought a scanner a few weeks ago so that Chris was able to get all of his mission photos on the computer. The best thing is we've been able to put all of our pre-digital photos including our wedding photos on the computer. Here are some of our favs!

First Day

It was Dannys first day at school on Monday. He was so excited to be a big boy! Just two more weeks and I'll only have Anna-Belle at home all day to keep me occupied! Can't wait. I can't believe where the time has gone, Emmaleigh is now in her 4th year of school-it only seems like a few weeks ago she started reception!

Aimees Birthday

Aimees finally six! She was so excited to have birthday money we has to go to town and spend it straight away. We were not surprised in the slightest that she bought yet another snugly toy!

Family Holiday

After a very long school holiday we finally managed to get away for a few days. We had a great time and the weather held which was great!

New calling

I was recently called to the High Council, which was a surprise as I've not long had my calling.  This is my first ever stake calling which is nice as I have visited very few of the branches in our stake, despite being a member here all my life.  I have been assigned to the South Shields ward and today was my first visit.  It was great to introduce myself to new people and get to know the leaders within the ward and it will be great to serve with the.  In addition to supporting South Shields ward, I will be responsible for music and activities (no surprise t here as I am still the Ward activities chairman).

I will be released from teaching my Primary class which will make Sundays a lot less stressful but at the same time I am upset as I was making some progress with them.  There was a primary talent show on at the chapel midweek and it was great to was my class as well as my own children showcase their talents.  I was able to get some great photo's and was determined to get a class photo for my personal history (It is very unlikely that I will ever get round to doing that!)

Family day at the Preston Temple

With life being what it is, it's been sometime Chris and I have been able to attend the Temle together so we were looking forward to spending some time there as a family on Saturday. Thanks to Mum, Grandma, Ash & Amber, who looked after our little darlings,  we were able to spend a few peaceful hours in the Lords house. It's was nice to have the children there with us and for them to see the Temple and to be in the grounds. The all loved the distribution centre and the bookstore where they were keen to spend all their pocket money on postcards, stickers and bookmarks. It was nice for me to spend some time with my family too. Surprisingly it wasn't raining so we were able to get some beautiful pictures of us all. All in all a memorable day.