A trip to the beach late on a sunny Saturday afternoon, watching & listening to the waves as they gently ebb back & forth onto the sand....
... collecting sea treasure...
... digging holes with bare hands & building sand castles....
... running into the waves & squealing with delight as the sea chases you back up the beach....
... jumping as high as you can over the waves....
...standing watching as the waves retreat leaving your feet sinking into the soft sand...
My dear mother is 60 today! I made her a fairy toadstool cake which she had requested a few years back but she had forgotten all about it! I think it was a nice surprise for her!
We had a fun day at their house 2 weeks ago with a special tea to celebrate Mum's birthday & Helen & Ian's wedding. The boys loved playing pass the parcel in the garden too!
WOW! Jordan is 7 years old today! How time flies! No parties this year for our boys so to celebrate this year Jordan had some friends home after school for a special birthday tea with a dinosaur theme!! It was an absolute pleasure to have Alfie & Hallie round. We all walked home from school together & then they played beautifully until tea time (which Lee cooked superbly! Thank you Lee!). The menu was chips, dinosaurs & beans, followed by strawberries & white chocolate ice cream! Mmmmm!
Luke helped me make the dinosaur biscuits yesterday & we had a lot of fun! He's a great baker.
Luke also helped me to make these dinosaur fairy cakes for all Jordan's school friends. I hand made the chocolate dinosaurs (hence the huge air bubble in Steggie's nose!!). It was really fun to make them too!
Yes, my sister Helen & Ian sneaked off to Bath on Tuesday & got married!!! Congratulations to you both! :D :D
We did a fair bit over the 6 week school holidays but I didn't really blog any of it at the time! For the first 5 weeks of the holidays we were at home pottering about & doing little day trips, going to the park & seeing friends. The first 'event' we went to was the Tall Ships race at the Albert Docks. My parents came too but the crowds put them off so they left early & took Jordan back with them for a few days holiday. It should have been Luke's turn but he was really quite ill & missed much of the last week of nursery school. We carried him around the docks looking at the ships. They LOVED the old fashioned sweet shop that is in the Albert Docks as well as the train lines & buffers for the old warehouses!!
On our 12th wedding anniversary we went to Chirk Castle gardens with my parents. Luke had, by this stage, recovered enough to spend a few days with his grandparents. When Timmy & Luke were reunited it was SO lovely! They ran towards each other & gave each other the biggest cuddles with lots of excited squeals! It was beautiful to watch. 
We went to Otterspool Promenade with my friend Alison & her two children. The play area is fantastic there & we had so much fun playing with the other children there. The older kids were really lovely to our children & helped them to join in their games. The weather was some what drafty as the park is right on a hill by the River Mersey!! Luke didn't like it much! the boys enjoyed using their new Laptop lunch boxes that I bought ready for the new school year.
We also went to the christening of Aiden, whose family we know through school. It was great to be there! The christening service was at an Independent Methodist church & was quite low key (I nearly missed the actual 'dunking' as I had turned to explain something to Timmy!) but also very lovely. The party after the service was at a local club called Chillies! It was alright really! We had to wait a long time for the food but the kids were well entertained by a magician. He wasn't very good if you watched him closely but luckily most kids don't so they thought it was fab! Luke was his assistant for one trick which he loved! Luke also had a great time feeding baby Evie chocolate buttons (that Evie's mum gave him!) & all the boys enjoyed playing their school friends. I realised as I was sorting the photos that I didn't get any pictures of Aiden! I think he slept for most of the party....
We spent a lot of our summer in the garden or playing in the street with various kids from the neighbourhood & friends who came to visit. The boys all dressed up as pirates early one morning & they spent a happy time with Noah trampolining, collecting stones & generally getting VERY muddy in our garden!
Annie Joy learnt to point over the summer, grew teeth numbers 3 & 4 (& had her first visit to the dentist!) & is well on the way to walking. The boys learnt to crack eggs open while we were baking funny face cakes one afternoon! They were all very pleased with themselves! Jordan even managed to crack open his egg keeping the shell partly joined together!! We saw lots of rainbows (due to the huge amount of rain followed by sunshine that we had this summer!) & the workmen began work finishing off our road- at last! Jordan watched them working almost constantly for two days! He said it was just really interesting! Timmy & Luke joined him at times as did many of the other boys from the street. It is nice to be part of a friendly community & have people to chat & play with almost any time you might fancy it.
WOW! Annie Joy is one year's old today! The little darling got chicken pox for her birthday but has still been the sweetest girl all day. She loved these stacking cups we bought her very much!
On Saturday we had a little party for Annie with a select group of special people. It was good fun! Simple food- cheese, jam & ham sandwiches (not altogether but separately!!), strawberries, grapes, pom bear crisps, bread sticks, cucumber sticks & fairy cakes (just enough for all to enjoy without us being overwhelmed with left overs!)- and lovely company!
Annie was spoilt with presents although she didn't get the chance to open many as the boys were rather keen to 'help' her! Lucky she didn't mind eh?
Nice to spend time with friends & chat. Jordan had fun with his school & church friend, Nathan.
Annie Joy actually had two birthday cakes- one for the party & one today. I made a giant cupcake for the party which was so much fun to make! I baked the cake in a brioche tin & then iced it. It seemed a shame to only use Mr Teddy once (who makes Annie giggle every time she sees him), so I saved him & put him on the top of a round cake which I made this morning. Annie enjoyed eating it very much too!
It was fun to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Annie Joy for the first time at the party with all of us squished into our kitchen but it did mean I couldn't get many piccies of it. I really like this one though (don't worry, she didn't touch the cake!)
Tonight at tea time we sang again for Annie & I was able to get a photo of her face as she saw Mr Teddy. It's that that makes baking cakes worth the time & effort...
And even with chicken pox, our daughter still looks beautiful! Happy first Birthday Annie Joy!
PS I forgot to tell you all that we have officially changed Annie's name from Annie Joy Davies to Annie-Joy Faith Davies. (The hyphen is there to clarify that Annie Joy is her first name more than anything else really!). It took us a long while to make a definite decision about her name but finally we've done it! :o) 
The time has come & Timothy & Luke started their first day in Big School! I can hardly believe it! I know the boys will enjoy their first morning at school as they know most of the children from nursery & 3 of their class mates attend our church so they know them very well. Timmy & Luke are wearing Jordan's old school uniform- it seems strange to think that the trousers are too big for them but are now too small for Jordan.... Time really does fly by.... So, it's all quiet in our house with just Annie Joy & me. 
