That was then; Luke, Jordan & Timothy back in June 2005.....
and this is now! Luke, Jordan & Timothy in April 2007. They are still just as gorgeous, just as wonderful, still pickles, still noisy, more knowledgeable, more amazing & still the best 3 sons any mother & father could wish for! It is such fun watching them grow. We love you boys! ;O)
Our new ENORMOUS car is finally here! In order to transport our ever expanding family we have purchased a Ford Galaxy 7 seater car. It's rather exciting but a little scary when you sit in the driver's seat & look in the rear view mirror. The car just seems to go on & on forever! The boys love the car & the fact that they all get to sit by a window . It will take us a while to perfect getting in & out of the car with speed & ease though now that we have 3 rows of seats to contend with! I haven't driven it yet but Lee says it's lovely to drive.... Feels like we are rattling around inside it with 2 spare seats!!!
Jordan & I made this scrapbook of our Easter holidays. It was so much fun working on a little project together! We took a little table out into the garden & sat on the bench creating pages all afternoon! Jordan loved using the Dymo label maker & sticking on the tiny letter stickers to make titles. He is a boy after my own heart in many ways but I realised this afresh when he picked up my box of coloured buttons & gave it a kiss saying 'I love these! They are my favourite!' Sweet boy! He loves stamping with rubber stamps too. At one point I had all 3 boys sat round me in the garden covering sheets of paper with random stampings! It was great fun! Jordan really enjoyed making the scrapbook but he said after we'd done a few pages 'Phew! This is hard work!' It was worth it to spend quality time with him & to see how proud he was of his finished creation. His old nursery teacher gave him a Star Award for his work too which he was so pleased about!
I am very excited as my lovely new camera arrived today courtesy of my dear parents. My old one has finally departed for the Great Camera Case in the Sky! Anyway, I have been snapping away all afternoon. The boys must have missed having their picture taken for so long because they just kept posing for me! Got some cute portraits that I may post another time.
We went to visit my parents for the day over Easter. We had a lovely day pottering about in their garden. The boys love watering all the plants (sometimes a little too much!) with their own little watering cans. This visit they played on my sister Helen & my hobby horses from when we were kids. It is fun to see them enjoying things that we enjoyed as children too.
Lee & I went out for a spot of car shopping while the boys painted pictures on the patio....
..relaxed in the deck chairs & generally had a fantastic time!
When Lee & I got back again we made a campfire to cook our tea on. The boys absolutely loved it! Jordan & my mum had collected the fire wood earlier from Wat's Dyke just at the back of my parent's house. Lee loved helping to light the fire too!
We cooked sausages, eggs & beans & ate it with my Dad's homemade bread which is Jordan's favourite bread in the whole world!
It was lovely to sit outside & enjoy the simple things but still have a fantastic time. Thankyou Mum & Dad! We love you! ;O)
One of the great things about Lee being off work is that he cooks the tea! this week he cooked us a traditional Liverpool meal called Scouse. It's basically a stew that uses up leftovers & you are supposed to serve it with pickled cabbage. We did a bit of research & found out the it is also a Scandinavian dish called Lobscouse that the seamen took back to their country when their ship docked at Liverpool. Lee's Scouse was delicious & all the boys loved it. As we were eating at the table Lee & I said that next time we had it we would add barley. Jordan said 'Barley? That's a wall!' I was confused but Lee understood straight away! It turns out that when Scouse kids play tag (or It as I would have called it down South!) if you stand by the wall & say 'Barley!' or 'Barley-O!' you can't be tagged. You learn something new everyday eh?
Another great thing about Lee being home is that he plays football in the garden with the boys (I do it too but I think it's more fun when Lee does it!). Jordan loves to go in goal & is pretty good at saving goals... although it should be pointed out that when he sits in the goal he almost fills the space! Note to self- get bigger goal posts..... Luke loves playing with footballs too (you can see him in the photo heading off into the sunset with his ball!). His idea of scoring a goal is to throw it into the net & shout 'Goal!'. I think he may be into sports other than football. Lee also did a spot of cooking with the boys. They made a strawberry trifle together! Yummy!
We have been trying sticker charts with the boys in an effort to improve unwanted behaviour & to encourage them to help around the house a bit more. It's been going well. On Wednesday they each filled the day's spaces with 4 sparkly star stickers! They really were excellent. It is great to see each boy developing & growing. They really are wonderful! ;O)
The school holidays mean we do all kinds of different things. I am really grateful that Lee has a week off work this week. It just makes life so much easier & the holiday more enjoyable! Last week we made camps in the garden by covering the picnic table with blankets & putting cushions on the ground. The boys loved that & had lots of 'sleep' & snacks in there. I don't know why I had never thought to use the table for tents before. I have always used the clothes airer & when 3 boys pile inside it all falls down! ;O)
We made butterfly cakes one day. The boys really love to cook. I try to let them do as much of it as possible. They all had a go at cracking eggs this time!!
I cut the tops off the cakes when they were cooked & cooled & the boys spread jam & butter icing onto the top & then added the 'wings'. They did a great job!
The cakes looked & tasted delicious even though I cooked them for too long! In this photo Timmy is smiling. Yes, I know it looks like he has his mouth wide open but when I said 'Smile!' this is what he did & he wouldn't change it! That's why Jordan is laughing so much!
One of the other things the boys love to do is blow bubbles in the garden. Timmy has now learnt to blow them himself. Luke has yet to perfect the art & for now bubble blowing is not quite the relaxing past time it will be when they are all experts!
What can you do on a dull Easter Monday? Wash the conservatory windows & the playhouse & all the Little Tikes cars! We had loads of fun! The boys just love cleaning windows & got soaked & covered in bubbles! They even enjoyed Lee spraying them with the cold water from the garden hose! (By the way, these photos aren't from today's window washing as my camera refused to take piccies & then Lee gave it a shower when he watered the pot plants! We think it will recover..... These pix are from last May). Now the conservatory is sparkling & the playhouse has never been so clean- the boys filled up the play sink inside & covered the whole house, inside & out, in bubbles. They were busy for hours! Who needs expensive toys or trips out eh?! When we had finished we piled them in the bath to get clean & warm, then snuggled up in front of the telly to watch a bit of CBeebies before tea. 
Wow! Here it is, Easter already! We have had a great day. We went to church this morning to celebrate Jesus's resurrection armed with streamers to wave during the songs & a bag of toys to keep little darlings amused during the short preach. It was a lot of fun! The boys enjoyed dancing & going on the kids parade around church, then they sat relatively quietly playing with their new mini Mr Potato Heads that came with the Easter eggs Lee's parents bought them. They loved watching the older kids dance performance & seeing the resurrection scene from Mel Gibson's film The Passion. Luke kept asking to see the big stone moving again & shouting out 'Happy Easter!' Timmy really enjoyed listening to Pastor Nic talking & kept repeating what he was saying. They all sat so nicely. It was great!
We came home & had an egg hunt in the garden before dinner. The boys loved it! They each had a little basket that my mum got them & scoured the garden for mini chocolate bunnies & eggs & a larger bunny full of smarteenies (as Timmy calls Smarties! & no, Helen, they aren't Nestle!). Have spent most of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine in the garden & at the park. Popped out to deliver the Easter presents the boys made for their Godparents too (can't post piccies yet as my parents haven't seen theirs yet!).
On Saturday we all went to The Blue Planet aquarium with my sister Helen & her friend Ian. This gorgeous picture of Luke just about sums the day up perfectly! Luke & Timmy were in their element seeing all the fish as soon as they arrived. Jordan, however was absolutely beside himself with terror from the moment we entered the building! He had got it into his head that the sharks would eat all the fish to which we pointed out he had nothing to worry about as he is not a fish! He then told us that the shark might eat him instead! We have no idea where he got this fear from as we have never discussed the matter together...
After many tears & screaming (!) Helen, Lee, Ian & I all managed to coax him into the first room! He kept on telling us that he would NOT go in the tunnel. Meanwhile Timmy & Luke were marvelling at all the amazing fish. They loved the cat fish with it's huge whiskers. In contrast, Timmy was desperate to see the 'scary' sharks in the tunnel.
Ian snapped away taking lots of photos of the fish & frogs. He let Jordan take a few piccies which really helped him to relax I think. Can't wait to see what the photos he took look like!
After about 15 minutes Jordan was OK with being in the same room as the fish & posed for a little photo with Luke...
.. Next thing I know Jordan is stroking the Rays in the touch pool & is loving it!! (This is what they are doing in the photo above but you can't really tell!) All 3 boys just loved touching the Rays & were fascinated watching them have their squid breakfast. Jordan said it was much too late for it to be their breakfast! It was about 11am by then.
Lee decided to take Jordan into the tunnel to face his fear. I heard crying for a little while as they went through... Minutes later Jordan came running back through the tunnel to find me & Timmy & Luke with a great big smile on his face saying 'Mummy, Mummy! It isn't scary at all! I love it & I've found Nemo!' Lee told me that Jordan had kept his eyes closed half way around the tunnel, then had suddenly looked up where the tanks of Clown fish & Pyjama fish were & realised that it was actually OK! Timmy loved the Pyjama fish & kept saying 'They're going to bed! It's night time!'
We went round & round the tunnel over & over again for about an hour! The boys loved seeing Mr Ray & the guitar fish & Mr Shark especially. The yellow fish (in the photo above) get yellow-er when they are happy so we told Jordan they were so happy that he had come to see them. He liked that! Luke ran around the tunnel twice for every one the rest of us did! Timmy said 'Hello Mr Ray!' at the top of his voice every time one swam by.
And as you can see from the photo above, Jordan got very relaxed in the presence of the sharks & lay down on the travelator to enjoy the experience more fully. He said that the tunnel & stroking the Rays were the highlight of his day. We were very proud of him facing up to the thing that had scared him so much at the start of the day. It really was worth it!
On Sunday, Jordan was really unwell (which may have accounted for some of the hysteria the day before although there was no other sign of him being ill) so he stayed at home with Helen & Ian while we all went to church. Lee was singing in the band & I was leading Sparklers (the 3-5 year old kids) for the last time. There were 15 boys & 1 girl in total (less than we usually have but my goodness! FIFTEEN boys & ONE girl!)!!! We had great fun singing & playing games & watching a video all about Easter Day & talking about what Easter means to us as Christians. We made little Easter boxes with a tomb stone door on it that you could roll back to get the mini eggs out from inside it! The kids loved them! ;O)
I can hardly believe it! After having my confidence boosted last year when an American website asked if they could publish one of my scrapbook layouts on their site to encourage others I decided to submit one of my pages to an English scrapbook magazine (Scrapbook Inspirations) to go in the reader's gallery. I was over the moon that they e-mailed me to say they wanted to publish it as I had expected to have to submit a few times before getting any success. So imagine my delight when my friend, Angie, text me on Thursday to say that my layout had won the reader's prize! I am chuffed to bits & still grinning about it now! :O)
