Little Girly Shoes

Annie Joy has her first pair of shoes! She loves them! They are sweet aren't they?

Ready? Steady? Go!

Last week at the boys' school it was Health & Safety Week. The children were encouraged to bring in extra healthy packed lunches & got points every time they did & names went into a prize draw (I think). They did all kinds of stuff on road safety, healthy food etc. (They had already had Walk to School week a few weeks earlier in case you wondered!). Part of Health & Safety Week is the sponsored sports events to raise money for playground improvements. The Infants event was held on the school yard as the school doesn't have a field for the kids to play on. There were 6 teams of mixed ages & abilities & they did 5 different races- walking, tennis ball & spoon, dribbling a football, bouncing a ball & hockey. Jordan's favourite race was the hockey one. He was certainly VERY fast! His team won this race!
Annie enjoyed watching the children from her pram...
...and so did Timmy & Luke when they had finished in nursery. They enjoyed sitting on my coat eating the treats from their snack packs- fabulous little re-sealable bags with animal pictures on the front that I fill with cheerios, raisins, crackers etc. (See here for more details). They also loved cheering & clapping!
The next week it was Timmy & Luke's turn to do a sponsored gym circuit. They had to do 10 laps down a slide, over stepping stones, jump over the box, climb over the frame...

...go through the tunnel & walk over the bar back to the start. They had so much fun practising for it & completing it on the day.

They got a sticker from their teacher when they had finished which they loved! They were absolutely shattered (& grumpy!) afterwards though!

History Maker

Lee has been working very hard lately... He organised his work's national 7 day conference at the very new Liverpool Arena this month. There were about 1100 delegates from all over the country & some international visitors too. Lee made history as he is the first non Royal Mail person to organise the conference in the union's entire history which caused quite a stir! He did a fabulous job (& I'm not the only one to say that!). He organised speakers & entertainment, lifts to & from airports & train stations, catering, liaising with the arena staff... He also spent one day looking after Ricky Tomlinson who spoke at the conference. Lee said he was a nice bloke. (No he didn't get a photo or an autograph!). Lee worked very hard- most days he worked from 7am until 1am the following morning only to start again at 7am! He was shattered after the week was out & the boys said he had been away from home for at least a year! We all missed him lots!

As the conference was held in Liverpool this year (it's usually in Bournemouth) I was able to go to some of the evening events. It was quite exciting to see Lee at work. He is as cool as a cucumber no matter what situation he is faced with. Anyway, the random picture above is of the drinks we bought at The Christians gig. This piddly amount of orange juice cost me £1.50! Even the bar staff gasped when they looked at the price list for the tiny bottle! Needless to say we only bought one drink each!
We really enjoyed the Tuesday night social in the Casa bar in town. The jazz band was fantastic, the comedian very funny (although he swore too much) & The Liverpool Samba School drummers were amazing! We saw them on Space Pirates on cBeebies with the boys a while back but they are better in real life.... and louder too!
There was a poet at the event too who will write a poem about you there & then with information your friends or colleagues give him. He called himself The People's Poet & as you can see from the photo he was a bit of a character! When he had finished writing the poem he would recite it. This is the poem he wrote for Lee;

Lee

The Mighty Atom

Beware- handle with care

Health & Safety in an anorak

On the ball

Never slack

You can't knock

A rock

As a bridge between clerical & engineer

Have no fear

Secretary of the conference

With confidence & ear piece

Wonders never cease

With Lee

If You Go down To The Woods Today....

...you're sure of a big surprise!! Our church held a Teddy Bear's Picnic in the Mystery Park at the beginning of June as part of the Festival of Hope celebrations. The boys loved taking their lunch boxes & teddies out for the afternoon! (Jordan is looking over my shoulder as I type & has reminded me that he took a bunny with him not a teddy bear!).
Paddington enjoyed the outing. He made do with honey sandwiches for lunch as we had run out of marmalade! There were lots of different things to do at the picnic like a bouncy castle, crafts....

...and a fire engine to sit in! Luke loved it especially. I do wonder if he'll be a fire fighter one day?

There were also balloon modellers there who were very good. The queue for the free balloons was enormous! Jordan queued for about 40 minutes for a balloon for himself & his best friend Hallie. It was such a kind & thoughtful thing for him to do.

This is Jordan with Hallie. They are going to get married when they are older you know!

Timmy got a pirate sword. Do you like his pirate face??!

All in all, it was a lovey afternoon. The teddies really enjoyed themselves too!

Sitting in an English Garden...

...waiting for the sun!! Brrr! Yes it was a bit chilly the day we went to Chirk Castle with my parents! You wouldn't think it was the end of May! The castle is 700 years old & was built for King Edward I. It is now owned by The National Trust but is the ancestral home of the Myddleton family (who happen to be friends of my parents!!) who bought it for £5,000 in 1595! The family still live in the castle with their children. What a fantastic place to grow up eh? Although I'm told by my mum that Mr Myddleton detested living there as a boy because it was cold & damp! I guess you can't double glaze the windows in a castle...
The boys loved stroking the new born lamb outside.

It was a big long walk up to the castle through woodland. Timmy loved looking out across the countryside where, apparently you can view 9 counties! He pointed down to the road we had just walked up from & said it was a secret place to hide the cars.
Just behind everyone on this photo is a corridor with lots of stairs leading up to a little back door into the castle! the boys were very taken with the secret way inside!

We went into the castle through the main door though & entered the enormous courtyard...

...with the tower & dungeons (as well as the coffee shop!). There is a stone 'toilet' (garde robe I think is the proper name) in the tower which Timmy loved looking down but Luke was terrified of & just about managed to walk into the corridor where the loo was! (I forgot to upload the piccie of Timmy admiring it & Luke dashing away- sorry!! It was quite comical though!). I think I'm with Luke on the matter it has to be said!

The boys enjoyed a turn in the stocks! They loved making grumpy faces for me to photograph!

This little door slides upwards & reveals a thin slide down into the dungeons! Quite a scary thought to think that once people would have literally been thrown down there into the dark damp dungeon! Not quite sure how they got out.....or if they were meant to!!

Through the courtyard you can view some of the rooms inside the castle (no photographs allowed though). There are fabulous staircases, portraits of the castle's ancestors & Timmy's favourite, the King's bedroom! It's quite a small room decorated in very dark red wallpaper with a curtained four poster bed & a large 'saucepan'! Actually, it's the tin bath but Timmy is convinced it's a saucepan & no amount of telling him will make him change his mind on the matter! (I think that's partly to do with the fact he likes the laughs he gets when he tells adults it's a saucepan!)

One of the rooms inside the castle is full of dressing up clothes & artifacts for the children to play with. We had fun trying on some of the outfits! Jordan loved seeing the old kitchen things as he has been learning all about life in the olden days at school.

It was a lovely afternoon although extremely cold & windy! Annie enjoyed cuddles with her Grandad & the boys had great fun playing & exploring even though (as it turns out later in the week) they were all coming down with a nasty sickness bug! Next time we go we hope to explore the castle's ornamental gardens provided the weather is more favourable.

9 Months

Can you believe that this little cutie is 9 months old already?!!? She's growing well! She can sit up all by herself & pull herself up to stand whilst holding onto furniture & she can crawl! She has one little tooth on the bottom row too which appeared on 23rd May.

She loves to play with her brothers toy cars & trains...

...and she loves the contents of the nappy changing basket! She spends ages inspecting the Germolene tube & rustling the baby wipe packet!!

All this gorgeous hot weather we've been having has given Annie the chance to explore outside. She loves grass & flowers but she didn't enjoy crawling on the tarmac at the park!!

Annie loves the swings...

...and has now (unfortunately!) discovered that she can move around in the seat! She isn't sure about going down the slide yet.

Her three big brothers still adore her...

...and Annie is beginning to discover that they are quite interesting too (well, their shoes anyway!) ;0)

Two Christenings; One Fun Day!

Sunday 18th May was a busy day for us as we were invited to two christenings! The first christening was Jordan's best friend Hallie's little sister, Evie. Evie was born the day after Annie Joy! (Actually Annie Joy was born on Hallie's birthday!). The service was held at Our Lady & St Nicholas church in the centre of Liverpool. St Nicholas is the oldest church in Liverpool with the original church dating from the 1200s (click here if you'd like to know more about the history!)
The font was a gorgeous ceramic bowl with a pearly shell water scoop. The vicar left the water in the font after the service for people to use to renew their baptism/confirmation vows. Luke loved that idea! Although we haven't christened our children they have been dedicated to God & it was great to talk to the boys about what that meant. After we'd talked about it, Luke really enjoyed 'baptising' himself with the water! ;0)
As soon as Evie's christening had finished we dashed back to the car & drove over to Warrington for Julie & Alan's daughter Jessica Rose's christening. Julie is a colleague of Lee's so it was great to spend the day with them & their family. The service was held at St Elphin's church. It has the tallest spire I have ever seen on a church (it's the 3rd tallest in Britain! Click here for more of its history). In fact, we saw the spire in the distance as soon as we came off the motorway &, as we sailed past it following dodgy directions (from a nameless source!) I said jokingly, 'Look! There it is!' Twenty five minutes later, after a brief tour of the roundabouts of Warrington, we arrived at the church only to discover the service had only lasted twenty minutes & we'd missed it!!!

I made sure that I got a photo of the lovely Parry family before we piled back into the car to go to the 'do' afterwards though! (What do you call a christening meal? Anyone know?)

We had a lovely afternoon at the hotel. The food was delicious & it was great to chat with Julie, Alan & their family. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves especially receiving the bags of goodies that Julie so generously gave them! Thankyou!

Even Annie got one with a little rubber duck & board book in it!

Annie enjoyed sitting on the floor playing with the balloons & as the saying goes, was as happy as Larry!

Timmy & Jordan also enjoyed playing with the balloons. Jordan got a big yellow punch balloon which he absolutely loved! (He cried when it burst later on in the week which is something he has never done before when a balloon pops!)

The christening cake was beautiful. the boys loved all the pink feet on it!

Julie cut huge pieces of the sponge cake for the boys to take home & eat for their tea. Lee brought some of the fruit cake home later on in the week too which was also delicious! It was a real privilege to share in Evie & Jessica's special day. (Sorry we missed the actual service for Jessica though!). We were very proud of our boys & how well they behaved too. It was such a lovely day!