IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!

So this is Christmas & what have we done? Oh no I'm writing in Christmas song lyrics!! Haha! We finally have our tree that's what we've done! We went to buy it this afternoon & got a rather gorgeous 6 foot real Nordman tree for a bargain price. (Lee says we got a better deal this year coz I went instead of him! I must say they went out of their way to make sure the tree wasn't leaning over like last year's was!) Squashed tree into front seat of car as back seats full of children & boot too small & then squished myself into the seat behind the tree & lay almost horizontal as had had to recline seat to get tree in! It was most uncomfortable but very amusing! Arrived home & began decorating the house......
First Lee & Timmy put up the window lights.....

...& once switched on Luke shouted 'Happy Birthday!'

Next in came the tree....

...which the boys decorated with great enthusiasm! (This picture is Luke trying to reach up to put crackers on the branches!)

This is gorgeous Jordan also decorating the tree beautifully.

And Jordan posing for a photo in front of the finished tree. He is wearing an angel halo that he will wear at church tomorrow for the children's nativity procession that I am leading! (Eeek!)

Luke took an instant love of the singing Father Christmas that Lee's mum bought for all three boys last year & didn't let it our of his sight until bedtime (when he reluctantly left it downstairs because I told him he couldn't take it to bed). Luke snuggled up to Lee after the tree was decorated & they enjoyed a cozy father son moment. Gorgeous! Timmy spent most of the afternoon playing with a small fibre optic tree that sits on a car dashboard. he loved switching it on & off 'all by myself' as he said. All in all a great time was had by us all decorating the tree for the first time as a family of 5. And now we are all excited & feeling festive!

Just to let you all know (coz I know you have been lying awake at night wondering!) that the hairy grass heads we planted a few weeks back have sprouted & now have fabulous green hair! the boys loved planting & making the heads & have also enjoyed watering them & playing with them. A great present - thanks Sharon! :O)

Well, I may not get to post again till after christmas Day so have a great Christmas & a very Happy New Year.

God bless you all! :O)

I Won!!!!!

A little while ago I posted that I had entered a small competition to do a scrapbook page on the theme 'the best thing that ever happened to you'. Well, I won with the layout above (click on it to see it better if you like). It really was only very very small competition but it was very encouraging to win! I have won some scrapbook supplies which will hopefully arrive soon (Christmas post is taking ages to get through here- 5 days on of our cards took!)

Well, I shall post again later with more piccies. Have a great day! :O)

I am trying to post!

Just a quick hello to let you know that I haven't forgotten about my blog! I have been trying to upload piccies tonight & Blogger just won't let me! Well, it's either Blogger or our internet connection playing up (we are trialing something for BT so they told us things would be a bit hit & miss for the first few days). Anyway, as soon as possible I will get some photos posted.

A quick update then before I go to bed.... Jordan had a fantastic time in his school nativity play. He was an angel which actually turned out to be a bigger deal than I had thought although it wasn't a big part in the whole scheme of things. The nativity play was performed by the whole of the Infant School so not everyone got a part. the main roles went to Year 2 then a few smaller parts to Year 1 & in Reception I think there were only 6 of them that got up on stage, Jordan being one of them. Anyway, my pesky camera decided it was going on strike for the play so I have nothing to preserve that memory which is gutting especially as Lee couldn't be there to see the play. (Jordan's class teacher says she has got some photos of him in costume from when they went to perform the play for the outpatients at Aintree Hospital so that is good). Jordan did an excellent job of remembering his part & all the dance moves but doesn't yet know how to show off his natural exuberance on the stage. I am sure it will come though... it runs on both sides of the family! I was so grateful to our friend Jean who agreed to look after Timmy & Luke last minute so I could watch the play unhindered not least because it meant I could focus on Jordan's performance but also because the school hall was so packed out with parents that it would have been awful trying to contain 2 toddlers either in a double pram or standing at the back squashed between other parents & having to push past to take the boys to the loo if needed! So thankyou so much Jean! You are a star!

Timmy & Luke are doing really well with their potty training. I can hardly believe that they will start nursery in January! They seem to have grown up so much lately. I must tell you a funny thing that Timmy said tonight. I made carbonara for tea with peas in it. This was the first time I have given the boys peas in ages as Luke & Timmy had been refusing to eat food that had peas in it even when they liked the rest of the meal so I decided to stop doing peas for a while. Well, they both tried a pea & then left the rest. I said to Timmy 'Are you going to eat your peas? They are yummy!' to which he replied 'Mummy I can't eat them, I'm too young'!!!! That boy has a real sense of humour! We all had a good laugh at that!

We have had thick fog all day today in Liverpool. Lee was due to go to watch the Liverpool match tonight with his niece, Lauren & a friend but they cancelled it coz it was too foggy. You couldn't see from one end of the pitch to the other! It was a shame that they didn't get to go especially as the fog lifted just after they made the decision not to play! Still, we got to spend a bit of time with our niece which was lovely. Jordan was fascinated by the fact that Lauren had blue eye shadow on & kept saying to her 'You've got blue eyes all round here' pointing to his forehead! You can tell all the females he knows don't wear make up very often!!

Well, I must get to bed. I will try to post piccies & more news tomorrow. Hope you are well! :O)

All Sorts of stuff

It's been a busy week here in the Davies household! We are in the middle of potty training Timothy & Luke so I am being kept on my toes! It is going well though- much better than expected really. We are so proud of our little boys (who suddenly seem not quite so little any more!). Luke fell asleep on the stairs on Friday after we had been to pick Jordan up from school! Bless his little heart! He has been playing so hard!
Luke & Timmy have been really into their toy prams this week & have been looking after their Fimbles (bought for 10p at Jordan's school fair last Saturday) & beanie duck very well, pushing them all over the house including upstairs!
Yesterday we had fun making these funky Hairy Heads that a friend bought Timmy & Luke for their birthday. There was only stuff in the box to make 2 really but I found an extra pop sock & eeked out the grass seed & saw dust into 3. The boys absolutely loved making them. They all had a turn spooning the saw dust into the tights & stuck on the eyes & mouth. I really hope that the grass grows & that we will have some wild grassy haired people to show you soon! We also had great fun on Saturday playing a game called Hungry Frogs which the boys also got for their birthday. It is so simple (you press a lever that makes a plastic frog jump forward to catch little yellow balls underneath it's body that then drop down into a tray. The winner is the one who has the most balls) but we laughed & laughed playing it!


Jordan never ceases to amazes us with his abilities. The above 3 photos are of his school homework (click to see them better if Blogger will let you!). I could not believe how great he is at writing! He is only 5 & has been in school for nearly one term- wow! Jordan has been chosen to play an angel in the infants nativity play this year so that is quite exciting!

So, some other news, Lee is ill at the moment with a coldy thing that we have all had at least once the past few months so he has been resting a lot this weekend as he had to speak at a church in Wales tonight. I hope he gets on alright coz when I came into our office to use the computer I noticed he had left his memory stick here which I think had all his power point slides on it! I have been busy doing lots of scrapbook pages & have entered a competition with one layout. I shall let you know if I win or not! I have also been learning how to upload videos to my blog. I am just waiting for YouTube to put my video on their site then I can share a sweet video of Timmy singing with you!

Well, nothing else to report really.... have a great week! (Please do post a comment on here I love to hear from you! It takes a while to show on the blog though as I check it first before it gets added. Thanks!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Aaaaah! These gorgeous little baby boys are 3 today! I can't believe it! I could say all kinds of things like 'doesn't time fly?' & 'it seems like only yesterday...' but I won't! We had a little party this afternoon for the boys which was great fun. We made silver party crowns covered in jewels & pom poms, played a few party games, ate pizza & sang Happy Birthday then ate cake. It was fun! (This was me doing low key party by the way! Turned out there were 10 kids there in all! Was worth doing though).
Timmy was really into the whole party thing. When he had made his crown he held it up & said 'Look Mummy! I made it all by myself!' (which he had!). Luke loved the dolls house that my parents bought for them. When we opened it he said 'Oh thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!'
And just so he wasn't left out Jordan had a friend from school over for the party too. They had fun playing Kings with their crowns on. They told me I had to bow to them when I spoke to them (this was what the King demanded in their nursery Christmas play last year!).

Anyway, it was such fun. Thankyou to everyone who came & enjoyed celebrating with us or who sent cards & presents in the post. We are really grateful. Special thanks to my lovely little sister Helen for all the great books she gave to the boys & for helping get the house straight for the party guests! We all love you very much! :O)

Haircut Days!

It's that time of the year again when me & the boys have our hair cut! I finally found a really good hairdresser last May that can cut my hair well. Best of all she comes to our house!! Timmy & Luke are getting better at having their hair cut thanks to Kelly & the aid of a packet of chocolate buttons each! Today's haircutting was quite a relaxing affair as Timmy & Luke fell asleep in the pram on the way back from picking up Jordan from school (hence Timmy's grumpy face in this piccie!). I try not to use the pram these days but it was raining & windy & we had to get home quickly for the hairdresser). Anyway, Jordan had his hair cut & then watched some telly while I had mine done without having to worry what havoc might be happening in the other room!! Anyway, the boys were excellent for their hair cuts but were a little bit hyper after having eaten a large bag (as opposed to the treat size bag) of choccy buttons! (Timmy told me at lunch time that he didn't want to have his hair broken!)

(Now this post will get a bit random as I uploaded my photos back to front! Here are some piccies & random ramblings from the Davies household over the past few days!)

Jordan took this photo of me on Sunday & I think he did a really good job! Not bad for a 5 year old eh?
Timmy has discovered dressing up!!!! I picked him up from creche at church on Sunday to find him wearing an enormous pair of pink fairy wings! Ever since then he keeps saying 'I want to dress up Mummy!' There hasn't been any call for dressing up clothes in this house before so it is a good job that Jordan made some butterfly wings at nursery last term! Timmy has worn them almost non stop. He's a little angel! (All 3 of them have been so good the past few days I said to them that I have one Super Star, one angel without wings & one angel with wings for sons!) Both him & Luke have been changing shoes a lot too. They are into wearing their beach jelly shoes around the house & keep asking to go to the beach. Perhaps they are feeling a bit wintery....I lead the 3-5 year old Sunday School at church (called Sparklers) & the over past 5 weeks the children have been learning that God made them special. We have been using Psalm 139 which talks about God knowing everything about us & that we are wonderful! We have looked at how God made our feet to dance, run & jump, how God gave us ears to hear his Word (in the Bible), how we have hands that can help people & a heart that God made to love others but most importantly to love him. I did this session & used The 4 Points to talk about how much God loves each one of us. The kids made heart necklaces that week with plastic drinking straw beads & card hearts threaded onto wool! It has been fun! At the end of this Sunday's session the children took home a sheet with a little boy or girl holding a mini book all about our senses. I always do the craft planned for Sparklers with my boys as a trial run to iron out any problems. Above is Jordan's copy of the God Made Me sheet. He loved doing it & was over the moon that the little boy can actually hold the book open!
This little piccie is one of me, Timmy & Jordan messing around in our office. Jordan thought it was hysterical taking pictures of ourselves!!
On Saturday Jordan went to friend's party so it was just me, Luke & Timmy around for the afternoon. We went in the garden even though it hailed & rained & was blooming windy! Luke had a great time pruning the tree & fixing the playhouse & football nets with a pair of toy pliers while Timmy tried to peddle the trike round the garden. Both boys are enjoying wearing gloves this winter (last winter they would have nothing to do with them despite the bitterly cold weather & all that snow in March!) Jordan had great fun at the party & totally wore himself out playing non stop from start to finish!


I went to another baby shower on Saturday night but forgot my camera! This time it was our friend Rachel's shower party. She is expecting twin girls next month. Her & her husband Alistair are Timmy & Luke's Godparents. Had fun playing games & being with friends.

And last but by no means least here a couple of photos of the boys playing with their train track! The top photo is from Saturday & the twins pretty much built this track by themselves! I was impressed! It is good to see them all developing problem solving skills & imaginative play. I love listening to them playing when they don't know I'm there! They are so sweet! (Mostly!!!)

Well, it has taken me a while to post on here so I had better sign off. Hope you are well! Have a great week. ;O)

PS It's only Tuesday & Jordan has already brought home 13 of his drawings (a lot of self portaits & family) & 2 blue accident slips (both for banging his head on a wall!! Apparently he has a lot less accidents than some! My word!)

It's Been A Little While....

...since the last post but that's because I haven't been very well so have been resting in bed a lot. Thankyou to my mum for coming over on Monday for a few days to look after me & the boys. We really appreciate it!

Last Saturday I went my friend's baby shower party. It was great fun! We played all kinds of silly games & had some nice food. Great to meet some new people too. I won the Make A Baby competition too!!!!! Hang on! Let me tell you what we had to do-everyone had a piece of paper that we had to hold behind our backs & rip out a baby shape without looking. I folded my paper in half (some people said I cheated but the rules didn't say I couldn't do it! I just used my initiative!). Anyway, it did look a bit 2-headed but it was very baby like in all other respects! When we had all made one we then wrote a baby shower message on it for Heather. Nice idea!

Jordan & I did the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes again this year. We love doing them! We jam packed 2 shoe boxes with sparkly note books, pens, soap, toothbrush, toy car, teddy, play dough, sweets & more! It's amazing what you can fit into such a small box. We also put in a photo of the 3 boys with a little message (see photo above). Jordan & I wrapped the boxes in silver paper & then Jordan stuck Christmas stickers all over them. It was fun fun fun! Hope the little boys who get our boxes have just as much fun playing with the toys as we did putting it all together.


Well, must go! House work to do! Hope you are well. Do post us a comment if you are passing by! :O)

Star of the Week!

I wasn't going to post on my blog today but Jordan got the Star of the Week award at school today! He got presented with a certificate in whole school assembly this morning. We are so proud of him! He really is doing so well!
All three boys helped me cook tea tonight. They line chairs up beside the cooker, pick out different utensils (makes lots of washing up but they enjoy helping me!) & take it in turns to stir the food. Jordan has a new skill- peeling a banana. When he has a banana in his school packed lunch I cut the top the banana a little so he can peel it himself. I asked him if he had he shown his friends how he did it by himself (coz it's a very tricky thing to do for a 5 year old). He said, with a cheeky little grin on his face, that he was keeping it a secret!

I went to visit a friend in hospital this evening. The hospital was like a maze! There were loads of us wandering round a bit lost! I had a little giggle in the lift coz they have Paul O'Grady doing the 'doors closing' etc bits!! Well, I don't think it was Paul but I have never heard a Scouse lift before! Makes sense as it's in Liverpool I guess! ;o) My friend is recovering well at home now after her operation so that is good news.

Have a great weekend!

Party Invite Designer!

Who would have thought that at the age of 30 I would be digitally creating party invitations for my friends when I never ever managed to do ANYTHING on a computer when I was at school?! (I was the kid at the back of the class who couldn't follow the teacher's instructions past 'switch on computer'!). But something must have gone into my brain during those lessons because I spent last night editing a photo & making it into a birthday invitation for one of my friend's sons who is having a joint party with two of his friends. It was fun! Nice to spend time with my friend while I did it too.

So the photo started like this (red eyes & distracting background) & changed to ...........

.....this! No red eyes or funny background just weird faces!!!!!! Then I turned it into an invitation........

....looking like this! I was very pleased with it & so was my friend & everyone who saw it today so that is a good job done!

Anyway, today has been a normal sort of day really. We went to Sticky Fingers this morning (SF is the toddler group that our church runs for the community on 3 mornings & 1 afternoon a week with about 100 different families attending each session). There is a craft/activity time every week & today's activity was planting bulbs. I will let you know how they grow!

Did a bit of shopping on the way back in the Co-op. I was served by an extremely friendly African man named Walker. He even packed my bags & asked how I was! I think Timmy & Luke were as amazed as I was to have such good customer treatment because a usually very friendly Timmy sat in his pram silently looking puzzled & Luke talked to the man more than he usually would! Anyway, it was lovely to be served by someone who was so obviously enjoying his job :o)

Well, nothing else to report really. Have a great evening!

Scrapbook Stuff

Had fun today finishing a layout of Timmy & Luke from March 2005! I used some of the papers & stickers that I won a few weeks back on a scrapbook website. It was fun to do something a little bit different from my usual style. As you can see from the photo, Timmy enjoyed helping me put the buttons on the page!! Luke was fascinated by the sewing machine. (NB I don't usually do scrapbooking when the boys are around but I just had to do some creating today as I had ideas floating round my head & I wanted to do them! It was wet today too). I am really pleased with it although I am thinking my mum won't like it- too many fiddly bits for her I reckon!

This layout of my wonderful, amazing husband, Lee is one that is known as a scraplift in scrapbooking circles which basically means I copied it from someone else. So this is a scraplift of Donna Downey's layout that I saw in my favourite scrapbook magazine Simple Scrapbooks. I quite like it except for the black writing but otherwise I am pleased with it too!

And last but not least before I sign off for the night here is a piccie of my gorgeous sons. Luke & Timmy are wearing their 'new' pyjamas. (Like all their clothes we were given them but I can't remember who they were from. They are cute though!)

Nostalgia

Aah! I am feeling all nostalgic! It's partly because we have discovered re-runs of Button Moon & Rainbow (which all 3 boys LOVE!) on one of the kids channels on Sky TV & partly because I took Timmy & Luke to a new toddler group today & they had some old toys there that I remember playing with as a child. Do you remember those Fisher Price record players with the plastic records that had raised bumps on them & when you put the needle arm on them & wound it up it played tunes? Well, there was one like it at the toddler group today- slightly modernised & in the shape of a CD player but in essence the same thing with the plastic discs with raised bumps on them. It took me back especially as the toddler group was in a church hall with that slightly dusty wooden floor feeling to it if you know what I mean! We had a great time there. The boys had fun playing with a large Farrari garage. Timmy has added Porsche to the list of cars he can recognise only he puts Mini in front of Porsche (which he pronounces Push!) so Porsche becomes MiniPush in Timmy's language (I am going to call it Timlish!). Anyway! Enough nostalgia now!

I thought you might like to see Jordan in his school uniform & some of the things he has brought home from school in the past week. The blue slips are accident reports & we seem to be getting a couple of those a week!!! Nothing serious- bumps, bruises & nose bleeds. I think we may have the whole accident book by the end of the year at this rate! Jordan is very brave when he gets hurt & is given a Star Award which gets put in a hat & a prize is given to the person who's Star Award gets pulled out of the hat in assembly every Friday. What with all Jordan's excellent work & accidents it will be amazing if he doesn't get a prize at some point!

Jordan is also learning French at school & doing very well which is great as he doesn't find speaking English that easy! By the way, he is doing really well at his Speech Therapy sessions too. He loves going & doing all the games & activities with the speech therapist Lydia.
And here are some piccies of those little twins playing with their beloved trains. Jordan came home from school & was amazed to see that we had built a track in the playroom. He said 'How did you manage to build the train track without me here to do it?'!!!!

The last things I heard from Timmy & Luke after I put them in bed tonight & shut their bedroom door was Timmy saying 'I want a sister' & Luke saying grumpily as the phone was ringing 'Quiet ringing phone!' & then moments later in a very sweet voice, 'Phone ringing Mummy!' Bless their little hearts!

Hope you are well. Night! ;o)

Fireworks!

Bonfire Night! I can't believe it has been a year since last November 5th!!!! But it has.... My sister Helen & her friend Ian came up for the afternoon & stayed to watch the fireworks display at Sefton Park where we also met our friends Kate, Will & Elias (it's quite tricky trying to meet up with people in a huge park in the dark but we managed it!). The display was brilliant. Luke LOVED it, Timmy enjoyed it as long as he was gripping my hand tightly but Jordan was beside himself & cried most of the time. It was really hard to see him so upset & not be able to calm him down. Still, he was quite positive about the whole thing afterwards & said he did enjoyed seeing the red & pink fireworks. He doesn't want to watch the display at the park next year though! He prefers to watch from the safety of our house....

It was great to go out as a family & spend time with Helen, Ian & the Sopwith family too. It is rather exciting to go out in the dark to the park! (I am quite pleased with my photos this year too which have come out rather well despite me taking them one handed as I was holding Jordan & Timmy at the same time!!!!!)

Hope you had fun on Bonfire Night.

Goodnight! ;o)

PS Do click on the photos to see them bigger as they look better then!

POST!!!!!!!

When the postman knocked at our door this morning you would not believe the excitement that these three parcels caused(Timmy & Luke had been playing opening parcels all morning)!!! One parcel contained a wooden train which the boys love (but which unfortunately we received in error*) & the other two parcels contained my letter stamps from America & a new sizzix die that I bought on eBay yesterday with some of the money I have earned from selling my greetings cards. I can not tell you how excited I am about getting them!!!!!! I nearly squealed excitedly on the doorstep when I saw the international packaging but stopped myself as our postman is rather serious & I didn't think he would appreciate it!!!!!

Anyway, off to try the stuff out & get lunch for the three of us. Have a great day! ;o)

PS Now I have got that old Proclaimers song on my brain that goes 'Take a look down the rail track, there's a letter from America'. It'll be on your brain now too!!!! (And yes, I am singing it in a broad Scots accent!!!!!)

*I have just contacted the lady on eBay who sent us the train (I bought one for 3-5 year old group at church & she posted us 2 inadvertantly) & it doesn't have another home to go to so we get to keep it (for a small sum of course). It'll be an early birthday present for the twins. They have already named it Virgin Train!

Lovely Day!

What a gorgeous day! Just look at the blue sky we have had today! Spent the afternoon in the garden again doing some gardening with Timmy & Luke. Timmy found some dandelion clocks!

First he sniffed them (this must a new experience for him to realise that he can smell things!). Then he tried to blow the seeds away. It was very hard to do!

The force of his puff here in the photo above sent him reeling & he nearly fell over!!We planted up some violas that were left over from an activity I organised for the 3-5 year old kids at church a while back. Luke loved putting the soil into the pot....

while Timmy waited to turn on the hose pipe to water the plants after he had put them into the pot.....They both loved watering everything when we had finished planting two pots.And above is a photo of our lovely pot of flowers all ready to go on our doorstep!

We picked up Jordan from school this afternoon to find that he had had two accidents including a nose bleed so it was a bit of an eventful day for him!! Timmy has a new phrase that is really funny- whenever he needs to say thankyou, he says 'Thankyou Sir!'!!!! I have no idea where he has got that from but it makes me smile.

Hope your day has been good. Do leave us a comment if you're browsing our blog- we've changed the comment thing so that you don't have to have a Google account. Also we are going to check the comments before they go onto the blog so it will take a while for them to be seen here after you post them.

TTFN! :o)

PS In case you are wondering why the planting photos are in black & white it's partly coz they look nice but mostly coz I think our camera is on the blink- the photos with Luke in them came out with a pink tint!!!