Half Term and the rest!

Half term couldn't come quick enough, Chris had booked the week off and were very much in need of a lie in-well as much of one as we can get. Not having to get dressed and out the door by a certain time is even better. The week however went sooo fast. Before we knew it was Tuesday so with the sun making an appearance we decided to tackle the garden to make it a bit more kid friendly.

It was great to have the kids use the garden, in our old house they were in the garden all the time, something they haven't done in this house. Hollie really enjoyed having the freedom to run around and LOVED the trampoline.

Wednesday I couldn't move and most of the day is a blur, Thursday we went to Newcastle to meet up with some friends and let the kids burn off some energy with their friends. It's become abit of a tradition that as soon as the holidays come we send out an open invite to all parents of young children in the stake to meet up one day somewhere. Last summer we were at the beach, Beamish, parks all over the place-great fun and something to look forward to!

After this we got to go to Ikea and look at kitchens-oh and my new fav place-NEXT Homestore. It was finally open and the kids even enjoyed it, with the promise of Toys r us on the way back to the park.

Friday we made the trip to Notts for Sarahs surprise 30th birthday meal. It was good to be back home. We had a really good night and the kids loved it.

On Sat morning I took Dad for breakfast to a cafe in Newark. Actually Dad chose the place. It was this amazingly old building that Charles I used to meet his mistress in (did I get that right Dad) It was great to spend some time with Dad and you can never go wrong with a fully cooked breakfast, it's definitely one of my favourite meals. While we were having our breakfast Mum took the kids to jolly jungle-a must as far as the kids are concerned. They love that place soo much and it really tires them out. Back to grandmas for lunch and just chilled out for a bit.

We decided to head back in the afternoon as we needed to get things ready for Sunday then back to school Monday- really it was all over in a flash!

This week had been good so far. It's been cold but the we've had some lovely sunshine so we've been out in the garden again.

Enjoying the fruits of my labours, after shifting 1 1/2 tonnes of gravel I decided to buy lunch and eat it in the sun. I just want to paint the fence now!!

It was Emmaleighs turn to bring the harp home this holiday. I think I was a little more excited that she was. I have to say I've always wanted to have a piano in the house but if I had a choice I think I would have the harp. It was such a lovely sound and Emmaleigh was so good. I was genuinely surprised at how good she was. I guess we'll have to start saving up!

Garden

The first dry day of the holidays meant that it was time to cause utter devastation in the garden. Emmaleigh really got stuck in. Aimee played with her friends while saying that she was working and Daniel sat in the house the whole day with a selectionof electronic devinces. We were out all day and I don't think that he even realised that we were not in the house.

The biggest task of the day was to remove the decking outside of the conservatiory door.

A sledgehammer swing and crowbar later and it was well on its way.

Within 2 hours it was gone and the garden opened up massively.

Fun Week!

Wow what a week, Monday, other than Valentines, was parents evening. With 3 lots of teachersto see in one evening it is always abit of a logistical nightmare. This year I was lucky and managed to get appointments one after the other. I was feeling very happy with myself for getting done in 30 mins and allowing myslf some time to get ready for our romantic meal!

So how have the kids done. Well Danny teachers said he is an absolute joy and the love having him in their class. He's always well behaved and very thoughtful. He's doing really well and had speeded up with his writing. Aimees teacher said that she too was doing well. She's getting her head down and her writing is beautiful.Emmaleighs teacher is new and then has been off most of the time as he had a very nasty leg brake. Quite litterally all he said was "shes doing really well, no problems" So very pleased with the kids.

I had alot of PTA stuff on last week too so I was at the school quite a bit. Wednesday was the school disco which we have down to a fine art now. The kids were a real help actually. I was suprised at how well they behaved. We had just all got home when Chris got a call from the Elders asking if he could take them to their appointment as the car they were in had broken down. Chris then spent the rest of the evening helping them.

Friday we were at the hospital for Dannys scan. He did really well. He was so brave having his injection and then just lay very still watching Ben 10 wile they took all the pictures they needed. We just have to wait now for the doctor to get back to us now. We stopped off at Sainburys on the way back to school for "treats" He chose a MoshiMonsters magazine and hasn't stopped talking about it since!

These are just some pictures from the other week when the kids were going stir crazy in the house so I insisted Chris took them to the park to burn off some energy. I have never seen so much mud in all my life!

I love this one of Hollie.

This os the only one of Aimee smiling. She spent the whole time moaning and having a face like this!

Dannys little find!

Emmaleigh enjoying herself. She loves being outside making up adventures.

Valentines

A friend gave me this bike for Abbs and she loves it. When we got back from nursery I took her for a ride up and down the street. I say ride, I pushed her up the hill whilst pushing Hollie in the pushchair and the she was too scared to go down hill, not a steep hill I might add untill I explained that that was the best bit about riding bikes-going downhill!!

So what else has been happening, well Danny had a dry night last night so is feeling very proud of himself today. We also had parents evening last night and we are happy to report that all the children are doing great. According to their teachers they are all wonderful children who are a pleasure to teach! Well done kids.

Chris and I also got to go out last night for a romantic meal. Yes I know, a rarity so we decided to treat ourselves and went to the quayside in Newcastle. Theres a seafood restaurant there that we've been wanting to go to for ages. Chris had quite possible the biggest mussels I have ever seen and I had the most scrumptious scollop's. We then couldn't resist and shared a whole lobster. We've never had it before and it was delicious. Yesterday was a good day. Right time to get these wonderful kids into bed quickly!

Sleepovers, farewells, shopping and jobs.

With the new year I have the renewed vigour to keep up to date with our blog. I really want to make it into a book this year so NO GAPS!!! We shall see!

I'm still recovering from last weekend, it's been quite eventful. Firstly Emmaleigh had a friend sleepover on Friday night which didn't quite go to plan. I think she found our tribe a little too much to handle and ended up going home earlier in the morning than originally planned.

This was a little blessing in disguise as we needed to get the house ready for the Burgess family who were staying with us on saturday night before heading off the start their new life in Cambridge. They hadn't been in the ward long but we had become quite good friends and was a little sad to see them go.

Sunday was also our ward conference and just for a change we had Church in the afternoon which was quite an experience. I can imagine a lie in being great but to be honnest it was a bit of a nightmare with the kids as they were just plain tired. That said I think you would be pushed to find any 3 hour slot in the day that dosen't overlap naps or meals. It was a nice conference and I now have a new calling. I'm a ward missionary, which is completey different but I'm looking forward to it.
This is a picture of our downstairs cupboard, soon to be toilet!!! Why is this in here do you ask, well just when I was settling down to relax I get a call from my brother asking if I got the message that he was coming Monday morning to board and skim it-NO would be the answer to that question so I quickly had to finish clearing it out.
Serene came along for the ride with Jon and brought the boys with her so Abbs got a day off nursery so she could play with Austin. After sorting out a few things, like disableing the alarm which started to go off when I cut the wires! (In my defence I did think it was already disabled and as I had already removed the control panel drastic measures were required!) We took the kids for a McDs for dinner then some serious retail therapy was on the cards. Armed with my £100 Next voucher I needed some new jeans as I was still wearing my maternity ones, and was not dissapointed.

Quickly nipped back to get the kids from school, tea at the Board Inn (2 meals for £5.50!!) then home to swap the kids with Chris, do tea for him and Jon, who was still working away, bless him, and get my things together for my PTA meeting. Quite a weekend. I'm still recovering a week later. Very happy with the progress of the toilet, we may even get it finished in time for potty training Hollie! It was really nice to spend some girlie time with Serene too, she came with me to get the kids from school so she was able to meet some of my friends which was nice.

Oh, Danny had his scan last week too. Appently he still has an abnormal amount of fluid on his kidneys, a problem that he had as a baby, although what this actually means I have no idea. We'll just have to wait and find out.

The Journey

So after what felt like an eternity we finally got here! These pictures of Hollie, whilst being very cute are very misleading. She most certainly did not sleep the whole of the journey. The first one is on the floor of the plaine. After making her all comfortable I had to pick her up, but she still slept! Thanks for the video of the kids, it was lovely to see them.

So after a quick stop off at church we arrived at Jennies new house-which is lovely! No time for a sleep-Jennie had cooked steak for dinner, yummy, then we quickly made treats for the youth fireside. Just time to get cleaned up and the kids into bed before my friend Hazel came over. It was lovley to see her and catch up. So after a long day and a lovly relaxing evening it was off to bed, only to be woken up by Hollie a few hours later as shes all wacked out with time changes! So still tired but loving it.

Thanks for the surprise mammy!

We were all upset when we had to wave Juli & Hollie off on their epic journey to Canada. To soften the blow Juli bought us all a little present and a card and hid them in the house. The kids had great fun finding it and even more fun opening it. Here is the video evidence of that. This is for Juli as she obviously couldn't be there to see them open their presents.

Back to School

I can't quite believe it's been 6 years since Emmaleigh started school! Since then I we've had a few first days!

Our latest being Anna-Belle. This wasn't her first day but as the older ones were going back she wanted to wear her uniform-typical Anna-Belle, wont wear her shoes and gets them on the wrong feet again! She was gutted when she had to come home-she couldn't understand why the "kiddies" could stay at school but she couldn't. Anyway, she's settled in now and loving it.

Last week of the Holidays

So on the last week of the holidays we finally got some half decent weather! Not wanting to waste the opportunity I took the kids off the Alnwick Gardens. I've been wanting to go there for some time but it's quite a drive and I thought it was expensive but it only ended up being £10.50 for me and the kids were 1p!

Theres this hugh pavillion which looks onto this amazing cascade of fountains. It's so beautiful.

I love the excitement on the kids faces as the fountains start, they all went a little crazy!

The kids all ran off ahead and by the time I caught up with them they were in this fountain fully dressed! Luckily they had already dumped their track suit tops and shoes on the pushchair!

Danny thought this was the best thing ever! It took all my powers of persuasion to get him out.

Anna-Belle on the other hand wasn't quite so enthralled about being soaked to the skin in cold water!

It was then off to the bamboo maze which was so much fun! I really was genuinely lost in the thing. If was fun running around with the pushchair through all the "tunnels"

I really was surprised by how much there was for the kids, so many path ways and ways to get wet. They could have ran around that place for hours!

This is the hugh tree house which is one the things I wanted to see but was actually disappointed with as it's mainly a restaurant, a nice restaurant but I thought is was going to be more for the kids.

Oh and last but not least in the gift shop we found mini Boris! There was no way I was getting out that shop without buying him. Danny was ecstatic! Helen, this is defiantly a place you will love, I'm putting it on the list for when you come visit again.

Lemon Meringue Pie

In an effort to cheer Chris up after a rotton weekend I thought I'd make him the lemon meringue pie he's been salivating over in my Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. This is the finished product thats currently cooling in the kitchen. After licking my fingers whilst making it I can't wait-another amazing recipe from the HB. Mum I promise I'll make one for the Baptism.