Davies Tribe Festivities!

Father Christmas came to our house on Christmas Eve!! He brought a lot of presents! The children are holding their 'big' presents in the picture above. We opened the last of the presents under the tree this afternoon- I love that in our house Christmas spreads out over several days just because the boys enjoy playing with each thing as it's opened rather than rushing to open everything. They open the presents in their stockings as soon as they wake up & the rest wait until after we have been to church. This year our church didn't have a Christmas Day service so we went to the church that is associated with the boys' school. It wasn't the most dynamic service but the people were very friendly & over joyed to have some young children to celebrate with them. Our boys were well behaved, if a little excitable but that went down well with many many of the old ladies at church who commented how much they missed the Christmases with small children around. They thanked us for bringing our children to celebrate Jesus birth with them. The minister said what a lovely family we are too! It was nice to be appreciated!
Going back a few days, we attended Messy church at our own church on the Saturday before Christmas. Basically it's a family service that includes space to run around, crafts, songs & bible stories & tea cooked for everyone to share altogether at the end. The boys loved making their very own Christingles. The glo sticks were a great modern 'safe' alternative to the traditional candle. (Luke managed to split his as he tried to make it glo again the following day. The glo stuff leaked out in an oily stinky mess!!)
On Christmas Eve we were Santa's Little Helpers & spent the day delivering cards & presents to friends, family & Godparents. Jordan took this locket round to his best friend Hallie's house.
We put a photo of the two of them inside! It says 'Friends Forever' on the back. Sweet! Jordan played at Hallie's house for a couple of hours much to their delight!

This is a sneaky peak at the gifts we made for the boys teachers, Godparents & Grandparents. Some are still to be delivered so I won't mention what the gift actually is! Shhh! I am very pleased with the simplicity but effectiveness of the finished result- so are the boys & the gift recipients!

Christmas Eve night we always visit Lee's parents to exchange gifts. Just look at the size of the gift bag Lee's mum used! It was our first visit to Lee's parents new house so we had a little guided tour. I love the serving hatch from the kitchen through to the dining area- very retro! The children loved the assortment of Christmas nick knacks that Nanny & Grandad have & enjoyed pressing all the buttons to make them sing & dance!

After that we went to a grown up party at our friends Ruth & Tony's. It was great fun! The boys loved chatting with the adults & as they were the only children there they got a lot of attention which they loved! Tony enjoyed playing with the kids too. Timmy said it was a great party because they got to eat crisps, drink lemonade & fly (that was Tony swinging them around above his head!!!). Jordan kept addressing him as Funny Man!!

Annie Joy rather stole the show with her cuteness & new pink boots! She had a great time playing with our friend Claire & Ruth's teddy bear too!

On Boxing Day we nearly always go for a walk in Delamere Forest & this year was no exception especially as the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

Jordan pushed Annie Joy around in her pram for the whole walk which he loved...

...and so did Annie! (Aaaah!)

Timmy & Luke also enjoyed being out in the sunshine exploring & jumping off logs & generally letting off steam!

We had a slightly chilly, but enjoyable picnic despite some rather unruly dogs who passed by (we had to throw the last bit of Luke's sarnie away as we weren't quite sure if one dog made contact with it or not! Luke's coat was certainly slobbery after the dog's departure! Not worth the risk we thought!). At the end of our walk we had a lovely hot chocolate sat by the fire on lovely comfy sofas in the visitor centre. It was great end to a lovely day.

This afternoon the boys opened the last of their presents. Lee was very excited about the Scalextric set we bought them! All four boys have had a lot of fun this afternoon racing the cars around the track. Lee has been re-living his boyhood I think! What with the credit crunch & so many things being ridiculously reduced in price the boys have had some rather spectacular presents this year! It has been fun! Hope you have all had fun too. Look forward to hearing all about your celebrations too! ;o)

Glory To God In the Highest & Peace to All!

The Christmas lights are up....

... the tree is decorated...

.... and the presents are underneath it in all their abundance! I am looking forward to tomorrow's festivities comforted by the knowledge that the tiny baby boy that was born on Christmas Day 2000 years ago has brought hope & peace into my life & the lives of so many others throughout time.

For a child has been born—for us!

The gift of a son—for us!

His names will be: Amazing Counselor,

Strong God,

Eternal Father,

Prince of Peace.

His ruling authority will grow,

and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas everyone! ;o)

Time Rocket!

Jordan had the lead role in the school Christmas Nativity this year!!!! No, he wasn't Joseph he was a man called Simeon who was the inn keeper's (who owned the stable) brother! the play this year was a musical called Christmas Number One written by Dave Godfrey (who specialises in maths fun days for primary school children. We laughed when Jordan told us he has a character called Bond, Number Bond!!). The other main characters, two boys from the present day, went back in a time rocket to the night Jesus was born to find out about the real first Christmas.

Jordan did an excellent job learning all his lines (& those of his cast members who forgot their cues!!). We were so proud of him! He had speech therapy from the age of 3 until last year so to see him on stage in front of 100 parents speaking a huge number of narrative lines with ease & confidence was just fantastic! You would never guess he struggled to get anyone to understand him just a few years ago.

Timmy & Luke & the rest of the reception class were part of the choir but at the end of the play they recited a little poem all about Father Christmas. Timmy did a wonderful job remembering all the words & actions too! We had no idea they would be doing a poem as neither of them had mentioned practising a poem at school & they didn't practise at home either!! All in all it was a brilliant play telling the real message of Christmas & how much God loves each one of us. I am so glad our boys go to a school that doesn't water the nativity story down! we were really lucky that we managed to get tickets for the play for my parents as well. We spent a lovely day with them both.

After school the same day as the Christmas play it was Jordan's cheerleading demonstration! Jordan was so excited to be able to do the cheerleading course. He was desperate to do it from the moment the NCD came to do an assembly at the school. He was so desperate that he cried when he handed me the letter all about it as he had decided that we wouldn't have enough money to be able to pay for it! Bless his heart, it was £18 for 6 weeks but he kept saying 'But it's £18! I can't go! It's £18!' How could I refuse him eh? Anyway, he loved every second of the course & Coach Darby said he was really good too. Jordan was over the moon with his special trophy award that they gave him. It is still in pride of place in his bedroom!

Well, time to go & have cuppa I think! Hope you are all well & looking forward to Christmas! WE now have our tree up & decorated! Perhaps piccies will make their way onto here in the next few days....! ;o)

We went to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo! (You didn't come too, too, too but you can see the photos!)

Hello strangers! Sorry for the long absence from The Daily (ahem!) Daviestribe but we have all been poorly with all kinds of yucky stuff but are on the mend now! So, Timmy & Luke wanted to go to the zoo for their birthday treat so that's where we went on a very freezing cold & foggy Saturday with a few of their friends. The piccie above is of them all in the monkey house! It was fun in there (& lovely & warm too!)
We were surprised the elephants were outside but they didn't seem to mind the cold. We were sorry we missed them playing Pumpkin Football though!
We enjoyed the new Tropical House (it was warm! LOL!!). The boys loved the spiders & snakes & reading all the information boards & pressing all the buttons to make the animal noises etc.

After much searching, we finally found the indoor picnic area & settled down for our party picnic. I had so much fun making up the animal themed boxes! Inside the were jam sandwiches in a little plastic bag sealed with an animal print sticker (!! I love details!!), fruit, crisps, apple juice, a chocolate animal bar &...

...one of my special ladybird or bee cakes plus an animal party blower & a jungle serviette! Nice! Us adults enjoyed sarnies, liquorice (left over from the making of 2 train cakes!), fruit & my homemade flapjacks! Yummy!

We all sang happy birthday to the boys after our food. It was dark in the picnic area! Everyone else who was eating stopped to sing to the boys too.

After lunch there was lots more to see! The kids had fun playing on & in this real turtle shell!

In another tropical house (brr! It was very very cold!) Timmy made a wish at the wishing pool. He wished that he could stay at the zoo all day & all night!

I thought this rhinoceros horn billed bird was rather amazing, don't you?

Timmy & Luke were really really glad that Emma came to the zoo with them. they love her so much but it was hit & miss whether she would be able to make it to the zoo as a few days before hand she fell & broke both her elbows!! When we told Timmy that Emma's arms were broken he said 'Have both her arms snapped off??' Yikes! Anyway, Emma felt well enough on the day to spend a little time with us all which was great especially as Luke & Timmy are really good friends with Emma's daughter Anya. they love her brother Nathan too!

We all loved watching the giraffes. The daddy was over 5 metres tall!! They are such beautiful creatures. They were really having fun running in their enclosure when we saw them.

This Komodo Dragon statue was asking for the boys to sit on it & have a photo taken so we obliged!

Timmy gave it a kiss to say thank you fer letting them sit on him!

Annie Joy had a little nap while the rest of the kids played on the fabulous Ark play area. Us adults had a cup of tea to warm up!

Jordan stopped by me at one point & he looked so handsome I had to take a photo. His eyes are the most beautiful honey brown colour!

We all had fun playing in the Marmots tunnels!

Lee especially enjoyed himself in there!!

Our last port of call was the new butterfly house. The lovely fuzzy effect on the photo is due to the fact that my camera was SO cold from being outside & the butterfly house was SO warm it steamed up! It was a good 15 minutes before I managed to take this photo & even then I had to keep wiping the lens!

On the way out Timmy & Luke had a quick ride on the baby elephant statue. By this time it was very dark & all the Christmas lights & stalls were lit up. It was so magical!

Timmy loved the Polar Bear who was wandering about! Polar Bear tried to eat Timmy's toy fish much to his delight! So Timmy got his wish- we stayed at the zoo all day & all night! Everyone got party bags to take home. they were little draw string fabric bags with paw prints on them that my mum made for everyone (thanks!) & I filled them with birthday cake, bubble mixture, a chocolate fish, a jumping crazy creature & a few sweets. Perfect! It really was a fantastic day out & we all had a lot of fun despite the cold. Luke was disappointed the Monica Rail wasn't working though (AKA the mono rail!). He stayed really warm at the zoo even without gloves on. When he got ready for bed that night we realised he had 2 long sleeved jumpers on! No wonder! :o)