School plays

It's been a day of 2 school plays today for me but this is the only picture I can put up - Angel Eliza (can you tell she has her Christmas dress on underneath??!). We aren't supposed to put pictures of the anyone else's children on the internet so no pictures of the girls in action nevermind...

The first was Eliza's pre-school performance. It our 4th year in a row with a daughter at the pre-school but next year Alice will be too young -I'm miss it! Boo. Anyway, all the kids dressed up a person on animal from the Christmas Story and perform infront of the whole school (all the kids up to age 11!) and the parents. The sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Away in a Manger, When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney, 5 Mince Pies in the Baker's Shop and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. They all did a great job. One little boy who was dressed up as Joseph sang super loud, it was hilarious. Eliza waved at us alot!

Last night Ben went to Esther's school play and I went tonight.The whole play was about Father Christmas' Elves getting sick of the hard work preparing for Christmas and wanting a break, they wanted to go to the Olympic Opening Ceremony instead. In the end they realised that their hard work was important and helped make people happy. The year 6's did most of the play with each other class performing a 5 minute slot all connected with the story. Esther's class were a factory - a few of them including Esther were factory workers and the other were the toy soldiers they were making who came to life when the factory workers took a break and went to sleep. Esther's line was 'why don't we take a break?' and she clashed some cymbals. What I really loved about the play is that amongst the fun and story there was room for Christmas Carols about the Saviour and at the end the reception class always do the Nativity and sing Away in a Manger. The whole school sang together at the end a song about celebrating and praising about the Saviour and about how His birth had been prophesied, it made me happy to think that at Upwood School the Saviour still features in Christmas.

Can't believe next year Eliza will be in the school play too!

So soon

I got forms the other day to fill in for Eliza to start school. I'm definitely feeling more sentimental this time round, with Esther it was probably exciting to get into the school routine even though I was a bit sad about it. So I asked Eliza if she was looking forward to going to school- she said yes. I asked her if she was going to miss me a bit - she said no! Crushing! Ouch! She's a pretty independant girl who knows her own mind that's for sure!

All about Esther

A couple of weeks ago Esther turned 6! In those 6 years I have learned just an incredible amount but anyway, more about Esther. She loves to be creative - she can literally spend hours working away on projects. She is enjoying school and has some nice friends. She tries to be a good example and is so helpful, even to the point of changing nappies! She is pretty athletic and loves to wrestle her dad - he says she's getting some good moves and is cunning with it! (I blame Ben's side of the family and their wrestling game 'blood river' where they had to sit on the couch and try and get the other off, whoever fell off fell into, you guessed it, the blood river! All the girls love that game whereas I did not come from a wrestling family!) She gets her sensitivity from me though!
Here's the birthday girls sporting some of her birthday presents - new dressing gown, slipper's and Hello Kitty watch.


As her birthday was on a Sunday she was more than usually excited to go to church because you get some birthday sweets and they primary children sing you happy birthday.

Esther requested chocolate cheesecake for her birthday, followed in Ben's footsteps as he had it for his birthday:The most devine food, my mouth is drooling and I could happily eat a big slice right now.

I had to postpone her birthday party because I got the dreaded lurgy that had been making the rounds but Esther didn't mind because she got to go to Build-a-bear with Auntie Bexie for her birthday treat. She came home with a pink bear with a wedding dress, veil, sparkly shoes, bouquet and.... garter!

When we finally did have her party my talented friend Mallory helped me or really I should say I helped her make these Hello Kitty cake pops which we a real hit. Time consuming to make but they looked absolutely adorable!

We took the girls bowling as per Esther's request and came home for icecream and pizza. She was extra pleased because her old school buddy, Cassie, who has now gone up to senior school came along too which was especially nice for me because she entertained the girls most of the time!
I love the change in the conversations we have now that she is just getting that bit older, she likes to talk to me and tell me how she feels, somethings that happened and the other day she was telling me about a girl in the Reception class so just a year younger than her and Esther announced,'Mummy, that girl just loves life!' Couldn't help but smile at her grown-up observation. She is a lovely, fun-loving, family-loving girl!

Summer Holiday 2011 Part 2

Day 4 we went to Cadbury's World. No pictures again. The good thing was I didn't come away feeling sick! It was actually pretty interesting. The Cadbury family were good people who wanted to do the best for their employees. There was a quote in the display that said something like- why would I want to spend money on expensive pictures to hang on my walls when there are people who are in need- they were Quakers and pretty ahead of their time in workers right, I was really impressed with what they did for their workers.

In the afternoon we went to Mary Arden's farm (Shakespeare's mum). This was a great place for the girls - they had quite a few activities for the children - we met some Shire horses, watched a falconry display and were taught how to weave tudor friendship bracelets. The house had loads of dress-ups, games to play and even an area to make up your own Shakespearean insults!

Esther the tudor
The girls by the birds. I was amazed to find out that the type of bird you owned was determined by your status in society with punishments for the those who owned a bird above their rank!

Eliza found a pig with the same colour hair as she has!
Eliza and her twin-hair coloured pig!
Alice looking at the goats
Eliza and her pig again

We went to all the other Shakespeare houses too and at one they are in the middle of a dig for anything from the period. They again had lots of things for the kids to do - we could have stayed for hours and hours.

Summer holiday 2011 Part 1

Conway Summer Holiday 2011 was 11 days at a friends holiday home in Stratford-upon-Avon. We had a fantastic time. Best part was that it was only an hour and a half from our house. Esther said that if we lived in Stratford we would just have fun all the time! The girls loved our holiday cottage in Shottery, 10 minutes walk from the town, 10 minutes walk from Mary Arden's farm, big park right behind the house too. We used our trusty Tesco vouchers to get entrance to most of the trips we wanted to take. We didn't do much on Day 1 except go food shopping, Day 2 we went to church in Warwick and happened to bump into a guy I knew from church when I was a teenager, small world. We took a little trip to the little Cotswold town of Broadway and up to Broadway Tower but didn't take a camera....
Day 3 we stayed local and went to the Stratford Butterfly farm. It would have been my mothers worst nightmare - she has a phobia about moths mostly but any flying insect really. Some of the moths/butterflies were massive. There was a caterpillar room too, they were also huge! Another room had beetles etc and Eliza was the first to want a go holding the millipiede - she was very brave. Esther decided she would too
So I thought I'd better not be outdone
Notice there is no picture of Ben holiday said millipiede....

Esther wanted to take a picture of the sparkly butterfly entrance:
Just a few of the huge butterflies:

We went on to the Shakespeare birthplace afterwards where I learnt that his dad used to make gloves and cure the leather with dog poop and human urine. Gross. Some noble man or woman used to then wear that leather as gloves. Yuk. That's about as much as I can remember from the tour. Alice was not interested in participating - too tired. Esther and Eliza's favourite bit thing at the house was the actor and actress who were in the garden taking requests for favourite bits of the play to act out. I think they did one each from Macbeth and Hamlet. Actually I do remember now they showed a short video about all the terms we use in our everyday language that are from Shakespeares plays. There are alot!

In sickness and in health

Ben and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last week. Unfortunately poor Esther started the day off with a tummy bug... luckily we'd planned on celebrating the following week-good job too since Ben wasn't home till after 10.30pm! Alice got the bug on Sunday but was ok by Monday so Ben and I left the girls in the care of my parents and headed of to Cambridge for dinner (Gormet Burger Kitchen, pretty tasty) and the 'Cirque de Ciel' (look them up on youtube) at the Corn Exchange. It was great to have a night out together, date is a very rare word in this house! It was really boiling hot though, even more so in the Corn Exchange and after the interval some people had already left, we considered it! It was a fun night.
Unfortunately I caught the bug yesterday... I was supposed to be singing in a concert conducted by a member of 'The Sixteen' but an now instead at home updating my blog. Oh well... at least I feel better! Fingers crossed nobody else gets it.
One of the few pictures of Ben and I together,Bex took it at Adam's wedding nearly 2 years ago (that's why I'm 6 months pregnant in the picture!), I love this picture.

The Wedding

July 23rd was the long awaited wedding of the year. Jess walked herself down the isle (her dad couldn't make the long trip to England) in style after the cutest bridesmaids (guess who!) and Joel of course couldn't take his eyes off her!


Let's go back to the beginning of the wedding weekend story.... so Ben got back from the states Friday afternoon, we had dinner, gave the kids a bath and packed up the car ready to leave at around bedtime so the girls could get some sleep on our 3hour drive. Turns out the 3 hour drive was actually 4 due to traffic and also turns out that Alice didn't feel the need to sleep and kept her sisters awake with her! Finally at around 10.30pm when we arrived at our destination Alice decided to zonk out. Phew. I think she must have been excited for the wedding otherwise there is no excuse for still waking up at 6am and then waking up the other girls. Hmmmm.... at least we didn't have any trouble getting ready on time. We were staying with some family friends who looked after us so well. We were treated to Micky Mouse waffles for breakfast - no regular waffle iron will live up to that in the girls eyes. They were eager to put on their pretty bridesmaid dresses and shoes so we ended up being ready really early so just headed over to the chapel. Thankfully Alice fell asleep on the 5 minute journey and managed to get in a half hour nap before the wedding.

Here's some pics of the girls before the wedding:



The service was beautiful (I gave the opening prayer and managed not to cry, I always get emotional no matter who the bride is walking down the isle), gorgeous music, one fantastic (if a bit long) talk, didn't need the 2nd speaker since the first one did such a great job but he went on nonetheless! Ben had to take Alice out (not fun for a 1 year old), Eliza kept picking at her flowers and lying under the pew and Esther was a bit grumpy and was generally bored. I guess I should have taken them something to do but I hadn't anticipated it being soooooooo long!
After the service Joel and Jess had some pictures taken at a nearby National Trust property.

This is what happened in our car on the way to the photo's....

The poor girls we just exhausted. Luckily they woke up in time for some picture though they did NOT want to have any taken.

One of Alice and I before the wedding. After the service in the car I took my fascinator out and forgot to put it back in so I think this is it's only photo!
They had the reception at a 3rd venue. My Uncle and Aunt prepared the food so of course it was a feast of deliciousness. The best man's speech was funny, mum and dad managed to keep their remarks to a minimum (!) and Jessica's mum Loneta talked about how happy she was the her baby (her 15th baby!) had married Joel. These 2 are perfect for each other, truly. I loved getting to know Jess's mum, sister and niece and would love to see them again and I think Loneta felt happy seeing that Jess was going to be loved by not just Joel but his whole family now she is 1000's of miles from home.
After the reception was the 2 hour drive to the Preston Temple. Ben's parents (who came to the wedding) came to look after the children so Ben and I and Adam and Alexa could go into the Temple and see Joel and Jessica be sealed for time and all eternity. I'm so grateful to know that it isn't 'till death do you part' and that families will really be together after this life. There is special significance there for us too because Ben and I were sealed in the Preston Temple 8 years ago. This is one of my fav's of them at the Temple:


We waved them goodbye after a small trauma with the hotel. The hotel had messed up and didn't have a room for them so my dad politely told them that the hotel needed to sort out alternative accommodation at for them and quick and at no cost to Joel and Jess. Needless to say they ended up with a far nicer hotel than the one they'd booked in the first place!

Bedtime was crazy again - we stayed at the accommodation at the temple and nobody was alseep before 11pm, Esther was feeling sick and kept shaking. It was just lack of sleep and proper food I'm sure but she didn't get into a relaxed sleep till around 1am, I know because I laid on the top bunk with her! Then Eliza woke up at 4 with a bad dream or something, I think I'm going to have to check Ben's hearing because I had to sort her out too! Luckily Alice went back to sleep till 7 after having woken at 6am...By that point I decided we should just go to church and drive home instead of waiting till bedtime. I'm so glad we decided that. It was great to be with family and friends but it was great to get home too! Everyone was exhausted.

Congrats Joel and Jess!

Couldn't not put in this picture of the little miss, gotta love the cheeky tongue!

It's Autumn!!!!

I love Autumn! We've been walking to school since we started back. The girls are enjoying it. This morning was in my mind the perfect Autumn morning - brightblue skies, slight chill in the air first thing but mild temperatures, leaves turning red and golden, conkers, acorns, blackberries waiting for me to pick them...I love it. Always feel like an exciting time for year to me. As I write I have my last hoorah to summer baking in the oven - my most favourite strawberry rhubarb pie. Thank you Ryann for introducing me to it! Next week it'll be blackberry and apple crumble with custard....

Rewind to sports day

Esther's school had sports day in June but unfortunately the 're-seeded' school field was not ready so they had a sports day with a difference. Here is Esther (in the yellow team) and her good friend Ethan (who she says she will one day marry) dumping water in a bucket they'd carried from the other end of that trail of water you can see on the floor behind them... This next one is of her dribbling the ball round a cone and back. At first I thought the activities were a bit lame - I wanted some fast paced action.... - but the kids seemed to be enjoying it. It was all in teams too so no individual winners - Esther's team came 2nd (I think, it was a while ago...).

Here's just a random cute one of Eliza near the time helping herself to my lipstick.

School's out!

I can't believe how quickly the summer term went at school! The kids enjoyed the activities the school put on - the reception class always have a teddy bears picnic with the pre-schoolers so Esther and Eliza got to have the picnic together. At Esther's school they have an outdoor pool and she has been loving her twice weekly swimming lessons (come rain or shine!!), she can now swim under water and all round the pool - probably much better than me!

We made Esther's and Eliza's teachers some lavender hearts - the girls chose the fabric for each teacher, drew some hearts, cut them out and I sewed them together very badly. They stuffed them full of lavender - those little fingers can do wonders - I was thinking of going into production!

Ben went to the states for 2 weeks in the middle of July during which time I had 8 guests stay over! Joel and Jess came with Jess's mum Loneta and her niece (same age!) Audrey. The girls warmed up to them pretty quickly and it's a shame we didn't see them more - they left each day before 10 to go to London and we back after the kids were in bed. It was nice to have some company in the evenings though. Bex came and spent the weekend too which is always nice. Then right before the end of term my brother and sis-in-law, Adam and Alexa came over from Switzerland for Joel and Jessica's wedding. We all got to meet our little nephew/cousin Benjamin!
The girls loved him, of course, and he loved them and his Auntie Anna! They left the day before the wedding and Ben flew back the day before the wedding!

The next day was the big day but that probably deserves a post all of it's own...

Uncle Matt

Two summers ago we had our family holiday down at Ben's brother and sis-in-law, Matt and Keri down in Yeovil, Somerset. We had a fanstastic time! We went to the beach at Lyme Regis, Longleat, Sealife Centre, Cheddar Gorge - loads of fab places spent with some of our favourite people. We love spending time with all our family! Unfortunately I somehow never ended up posting any pictures on the blog and Matt has never forgiven me!! So he told me tonight (jokingly but as we know, all jokes have a hint of truth...) that if Iwrote that he was great he would get over the grudge!! So Matty boy we love you though we may love Keri and Lucas (their cute 11 month old baby boy) even more... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Woo hoo, can't bring this one up anymore!!! he he he he he he he he take that Matt!

day tripping

Sometime early in June we went for a day trip to Castle Rising and Hunstanton beach. It had been lovely weather all week long but of course as we drove further north the weather turned and it was decidedly chilly! Good job I packed clothes for all eventualities (even for a day trip!). So this is Castle Rising, I'm trying to remember why it was special and I think it's meant to be one of the best examples of a castle it's age and type... The girls loved walking round the walls but weren't quite so sure going into the darker corners...

After the castle we to Hunstanton beach. It was pretty cold and windy by then and the first thing Alice did was to fall head first into a rock pool and then sit down in the wet sand making one wet sandy baby who didn't like being wet and sandy.

Needless to say we didn't stay long at the beach. Long enough for Esther to paddle in the sea though. She made a picture of Ben and I in the sand too.

It was a fun day despite the weather!

Just as a Sunday morning should be

Recent craftiness

Recently I've finished a few projects - sooooo satisfying to have them done even though they were quick ones. Earlier in the year I joined the facebook handmade pay-it-forward type thing(not sure what to call it really...) where you promised to make something for the first 5 people who replied to your status and in return they had to make something for 5 other people and so on, get the picture? So Bex signed up on mine and I decided I would make her a comfy camera strap cover (she is the photographer of 3 weddings this month!!) I got the pattern from here and got out the sewing machine, it only took a couple of hours and would probably take less if everything was set up and ready to go!

And here is Alice's quilt that I finished a few weeks ago, also would only take 1 week of evenings if you had some free nights in! I love it! Why oh why didn't I make it in a kingsize?!

I'm going for the ruffle effect on the edge on the flower but here's hoping it doesn't fray through my handstitching!

The adorable recipient!

Other than this stuff I have been painting a whole load of picture frames I bought at the charity shop ready for our picture wall, found a new extension for our baby gate so I can relax when we are upstairs knowing Alice can roam free without going headfirst down the stairs (now if I could just instill into the girls the importance of closing the gate behind them...ok,they're not bad), got 2 bookcases so we have no more, I repeat no more boxes/books piles in the hallway or living room (only taken 5 months!), sorted out our summer holiday,had 6 visitors stay in the last week with 3 more to come next week -Ben went to the states earlier in the week and won't be back till then end of next week so it's been nice to have the company! Anyway, I'm feeling pretty motivated at the progress in the house but lots more to do, hopefully Ben's crazy 'work till 2 in the morning everyday and at weekends' workload will calm down when he gets back from the States then he can help me with those grand plans...

Reunited

On 1st June Joel's fiancee Jessica flew over from the States for good. They hadn't seen each other in over 6 months! After Joel picked her up from the airport they went to buy their wedding rings in Birmingham and drove on down to our house to spend a couple of days down here. To say that the girls were excited would be an understatement! Esther made a 'Welcome to England' poster for the front door. It was very detailed. Each line had different pictures and each set of pictures represented something. This one is our family - me, Alice, Ben, Esther and Eliza.

For the life of me I can't remember what the hearts represented...

Each of the flowers were one of us - the gold was me: a daffodil, blue for Ben: bluebell, red rose for Esther Rose, pink daisy for Eliza who loves to pick daisies, silver (artistic license) buttercup for Alice

First butterfly is Esther, then Eliza, then Alice

This is Joel and Jessica on their wedding day! Let's hope they look this good on July 23rd!