11 Years Ago Today

Us when we first started going out way back in 1994

signing the registers at our wedding


the order of service that I designed

It's our 11th wedding anniversary today! I can hardly believe how times flies!!

In 11 years we have lived in 6 houses in 2 counties, owned 9 cars, gained 1 degree, 2 maths GCSEs, & 2 computer literacy qualifications, passed 1 driving test & theory test, had 10 jobs between us (bearing in mind I did a lot of temping as a student), visited 4 different countries, lived abroad, lost 3 grandparents & 2 close friends, recorded an international selling album (we were backing singers!), had 3 car crashes (none of which were our fault!), been to at least 16 weddings, had 3 (almost 4) children..... & done & experienced so much more too! PHEW!

On the day we got engaged we over heard an elderly couple as we travelled on the bus back from Ludlow. This was their short conversation that has stuck with us ever since;

MAN: Have you had a lovely day dear?

WOMAN: I always have a lovely day when I'm with you.

Lee & I looked at each other & said 'That'll be us in 50 years time!' And by the grace of God, 11 years on we are still loving growing older with each other & experiencing all the things that life brings our way. Here's to the next 11 years- who knows what we'll be doing then!! ;O)

In Case You've Forgotten...

...even an English summer usually includes the following activities...

...going in the paddling pool....

...wearing your sunglasses (or your mum's!)...

...eating ice creams & enjoying the great outdoors!

Personally, I am glad for the lack of heat but I can't help thinking of the past summer activities we have done with the boys & feeling a little wistful that this summer may not include those things...

(Photos are from one of our holidays to Mary's cottage in Kent. We all loved going there & miss Mary lots...)

Funny Boys!

Some people's kids pester them for sweets & chocolate but not my boys! On a family shopping trip to Tesco's last Saturday I was trying to navigate the tribe & an unruly trolley around hordes of shoppers & assist the boys in getting various items from the shelves whilst planning the weekly menu in my head & making a mental note of all those essentials we had run out of (Lee having nipped to the toilet at this point!). Wondering where Timmy had got to I turned around to see him heaving a very large marrow into the trolley. As he put it in he said 'We can have this. I like marrow.' This was news to me but not wishing to dissuade my children from eating something healthy, & it being apparent that Timmy was not taking no for an answer we bought the said marrow & I added it to the menu in my head! And last night we ate a rather delicious marrow stuffed with rice, tomato, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, onion & a little bacon (with baked beans!!!!) for tea, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. ;O)

So, marrow joins the list of 'unusual' things my boys pester me for as we shop. So far strawberries, pineapple, French bread, crumpets, baby corn, & watermelon top the list with the occasional request for doughnuts or cake thrown in! I guess it shows that somewhere down the line we've done something right in our parenting!!!!!

The Usual!

Jordan went on his class end of year trip to Farmer Ted's (where Timmy & Luke went earlier this term) last Thursday. He was SOOOOO excited about going as he could wear his own clothes, amongst other things. The t-shirt he chose to wear was his Bob the Tomato t-shirt that our friend Alison gave him a few weeks ago. Bob the Tomato comes from some kids videos that the boys love called Veggie Tales & they are Bible stories or lessons on things like sharing. There is also a superhero character called LarryBoy that they love & who has been very helpful in helping the boys learn about not telling fibs! The photo is of Jordan sitting with one of his best friends, Archie, by the way.

Anyway, Jordan had a fantastic time at Farmer Ted's & the weather was actually hot & sunny for the day which was brilliant. BUT when Jordan got back home from the trip he was very sick everywhere! He had to miss the last day of school which was a shame as his teacher was leaving to move to Ireland. He was sad to say goodbye to her when we nipped in to give her a card & present but delighted with the little bag of goodies the teacher & classroom assistant gave him!

And so, we began the summer holidays as we have begun every school holiday since Jordan started nursery- with illness!! One day we will have a sickness free holiday! I can hardly believe that Jordan has finished a whole year of full time education & that the twins have finished year one of nursery. It all seems to have happened too quickly.... 7 more weeks & little baby girl will be here too......YIKES! ;O)

Pirates Of Wavertree

The city of Liverpool is celebrating its 800th birthday this year! All the schools in the city have had parties to celebrate. The boys's school had their street party this afternoon with a maritime/Liverpool theme. Initially Timmy wanted to go as Nemo the clown fish, Luke as a dolphin & Jordan as a shark but given the short notice we were given for making costumes my imagination failed me! Lee thought it was funny how the boys just assume that I can make any costume & turn them into anything! as it was I managed to pursuade them that sailors or pirates (nice ones that give treasure away & don't steal it!) might be a good idea. So, with the help of my mum, who sewed the waistcoats & found the material for the headscarves plus lots of treasure (thankyou so much!), we made 3 pirate costumes this weekend! The boys & I had such fun making the treasure chests out of washing tablet boxes, cereal packets, tissue paper & split pins. It was messy but worth it!

We thought of all kinds of famous people from Liverpool that the boys could have been if we'd had more time for costumes such as Ken Dodd, the Diddy Men, The Beatles, a Liverbird, the Mole of Edge Hill....

And here is what you get when you ask the boys to make a pirate face....

...this is Jordan's!...
..Luke's cute moustache pirate face....
and Timmy really getting into the swing of pirate-ness! (This was totally his idea, I didn't get him to pose like it!!!)

Timmy & Luke had so much fun posing for piccies in our garden. It's nice to see them enjoying each other's company. Luke had the whole of the nursery in fits of giggles when he arrived; he walked into the room, as bold as you like, & said in a loud voice 'Shiver me timbers!'

Edit: You know your kids are in for a wild party time when the teacher greets them brandishing a cutlass & talking in a pirate voice first thing in the morning! The boys had so much fun at the party eating jelly, cake, doughnuts, crisps & sweets & drinking juice. They played party games like pass the parcel, musical chairs & statues & had so much fun! the rain stayed away enough for them to have the party in the school yard which was something! Timmy & Luke were particularly delighted that there was a giant strawberry at the party! Jordan told me it was one of the teachers dressed up as Strawberry Fields!! Needless to say, all 3 boys were rather high on sugar when they came home last night but after a little restlessness at bed time pretty much went straight to sleep. They were certainly tired after all the excitement! :O)

Tattybogle

Tuesday saw Mum & me sitting in the infant school hall watching the end of year performance of Tattybogle. It was a lovely little musical play all about a scarecrow called Tattybogle & his life through the seasons in a farmer's field. The picture above is of Tattybogle (in the middle) being blown about by the wind wolves (4 boys in sunglasses & leather jackets). They did the most amazing dance & quite stole the show I thought!
Jordan (second from the right) & his class were mice, Year 1 were rabbits & the main parts were taken by Year 2. It was a great little show & everyone worked very hard doing it.
The end of the school year is fast approaching! I can hardly believe that Jordan has nearly finished his first year of full time education. What's more is that this time next year I will be preparing myself (& Timmy & Luke!) for them to start school full time too. It all seems to come round far too quickly! Jordan had Sport's Day yesterday. Unfortunately the ManWeb Social Club field that the school use for Sport's Day (the school doesn't have its own field) was too wet so they held Sport's Day in the Infant hall instead. Due to the lack of space, parents couldn't spectate. Jordan came first in the skipping race which he was very pleased about & came home with a sheet full of sticker prizes.

And now for something slightly random! Did you know we are a family of strawberry lovers?? The boys & I LOVE strawberries so much! I just had to take a photo of this strawberry as it was so huge & perfect looking. It was so big it filled Jordan's hand & he ate it whole- I usually cut the strawberries into halves or quarters mostly to save Luke choking himself as he shoves the lot in in one go, but also to make them look like there are more in the bowl!

And this yummy thing is what the twins call a 'nuffin'! This particular 'nuffin' is strawberry (of course!) & white chocolate & was the first muffin the boys have ever had I think. It went down a treat! ;o)

Spoilt

We are really lucky that we have some great friends & family. Over the past few years we have had so much support from our friends & family at church & work etc. For example, we have never had to buy any clothes for our boys except shoes, pants & socks & school uniform as we have had so much stuff passed on to us. It has been a real answer to our prayers as our finances are tight. The shoes in the photo above were given to us by a friend along with a huge bag of very girly baby clothes. We are all in love with those shoes! Timmy wants to be a baby so he can wear them, Luke says 'Baby shoes!' when he sees them & starts pretending to be a baby & Jordan wants to have the shoes for when he has a baby of his own! We are all so looking forward to having a baby in the family, especially a little girl. I'm not mad about pink & frills but it will be nice to see life from a girl's perspective.... I went to see the midwife today. It was so great to hear baby's heart beating away. She was SO active though & kept kicking the Doppler machine... it makes me wonder if things really will be any different from wild boyish behaviour with a little Davies girl!!!!!!!!
These t-shirts are the ones that my sister Helen & Ian bought a few weeks ago for the boys that they call their rainbow t-shirts. They look so gorgeous in them! ;O)
Our friend Jean has an allotment just passed our house & she often stops off at our house on her way home with a bag full of goodies for us to munch. Last week she brought us mange tout & little gem lettuces. It is amazing how little boys will eat 'Jean's Special Lettuce' but not Tesco's! It was so lovely to eat delicious home grown veggies with our sausage & mash for tea. YUMMY!

And still on the veggie theme, my mum came to stay this week while Lee was away in London, & she brought with her these unusual baby organic courgettes from a little farm shop they visited whilst on holiday in Anglesey. We had them for tea in my favourite vegetables & pasta dish. Again I say YUMMY!

Anyway, I must close now as Lee is due home any moment from his trip. It has been good to have my mum here & I thank her HEAPS for all the hard work she has done. We all love you Grandma! Hope everyone who is reading this is well. Do post us a comment if you have the time & blogger will let you! TTFN!

When Lee Met...

Tony Blair!!! Before he stepped down as Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Liverpool & Lee was invited to meet him. Lee said it was very interesting seeing all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on in getting a place ready for the PM to arrive like building checks & all the bodyguards he has that you never quite notice normally. The first thing he said when he arrived was that he had met Margaret Thatcher that morning & she had said to him 'Well done on your retirement. It's about time too' !!!! Lee enjoyed meeting him & said he seemed like a nice guy. It felt like an historical moment meeting a PM just before he stepped down.

Bike Challenge

On Sunday our friend Gary completed the Leeds- Liverpool Bike Challenge raising money for Heart Research UK. He cycled 127 miles along the Leeds-Liverpool canal over 3 days of rather wet & wintry weather! He arrived in Liverpool, along with 79 other cyclists, at 2pm covered in mud & very wet!
Our boys were fascinated by the bikes (which Luke calls motorbikes) & wondered how exactly they got to be SO muddy! Jordan said 'How did Gary get to have TWO water bottles on his bike??'

We all crammed into our car with Gary's muddy bike in the boot. We just about fitted!

Back at our house we hosed down the muddy bike which the boys LOVED doing!

Timmy got a bit wet in the process though! We had a nice weekend with Gary, Helen & Ian. Luke & Jordan are especially keen on Ian. We've decided that we are going to call him Uncle Ian now, which the boys think is really funny, as he practically is their uncle. Helen & Ian bought the boys some lovely stripy polo shirts over the weekend which are gorgeous. They call them their rainbow T-shirts. (Maybe I'll get a photo to post so you can see why).

Hope you all had a great weekend. ;O)