Itchy & Scratchy

Timothy & Luke have got chicken pox!! Last Saturday we waved goodbye to Lee who drove down to Bournemouth with some collegues for the work's annual conference little knowing that our first school holiday without illness would end with the pox!!!! We had spotted (ha ha!) that Timmy had what we thought were insect bites the day before but thought little of them... All three boys had been really grumpy & aggitated all week & as I began to suspect they were ill with chicken pox it was all brought into perspective!

My Mum & Dad were due to visit us on the Sunday anyway so it was a blessing that they were around to help. Mum has stayed since Sunday which has helped emormously with getting Jordan to school & back & generally easing the work load.

Our week has been very different to the one I had planned! It's mostly been full of sleeping, cuddling, sitting still (unheard of in the Davies household!), having warm baths & paddling in the pool to keep itchy spots relived & giving all kinds of medicines- we call them itchy medicine (anti histimine), white or orange medicine (neurofen), pink medicine (Calpol) & cold medicine (calalmine lotion). Phew!! The boys have done really well on the whole especially considering they are covered in spots from head to toe including eyes & feet (the photos really don't show them up much poor little mites).

Today we had our first proper outing of the week to the hairdressers!!!!! Our mobile hairdresser has recently opened up her own salon so this was our first visit there. Timmy & Luke had their hair cut first & did really well even with chicken pox on their heads! My mum took the boys for a walk to the nearby train station while I had my hair cut. It was luxury to have my hair washed & head massaged too! ;O)

Well, I hope that you are all well. TTFN!

The Wanderers Return!

Many months ago I purchased from eBay 3 Shawn the Sheep toys for the boys as a Christmas present. I was so organised that I forgot all about them until Christmas Day. I dashed downstairs to find them for the boys but I could only find one little Shawn! It remained a mystery as the where the other 2 had gone until yesterday morning when they turned up in Lee's wardrobe!!!! I knew Shawn was a cheeky little sheep but I didn't know he would sneak off like that without telling me!!!!!!!!! All day yesterday Jordan, Timothy & Luke played with their Shawn the Sheep toys & had so much fun with them so it was worth the wait! Really glad they have turned up at last! :O)
On Thursday we had a very busy day doing lots of jobs around the house & the like. Lee's Dad came to our house to do some work for our landlord in his Gas man capacity. We now have a sparkling, serviced boiler, cooker & fire complete with new coals & new paint! Another job that was also done was putting a cowl on the chimney pot. I am VERY pleased with this job as it means Mr Pigeon can no longer poo down the chimney onto our hearth & when it rains heavily we don't get a wet if we are sitting by the fireplace!! Yippeeee!

The boys played out on our front driveway for a large part of day whizzing round & round on their scooters & car. They were delighted when the recycling men came for the garden waste. Watching the bin men is quite a highlight for the boys so I took a piccie although I think the bin men thought I was a bit odd!!!

The boys & I did a LOT of weeding in our garden in the afternoon too. I love how easily conversations about God come up with the boys. A simple task weeding the patio lead to me re-telling Jesus' parable of the sower & how different people respond to hearing the gospel. We had along chat about all kinds of spiritual things while we weeded! It was fun! I just love how every day activities can help us all understand spiritual things more easily & how my children prompt me to think more about God. I guess that is just the way Jesus intended it to be!

I am REALLY enjoying my new camera & finding out all about the different settings. As I sat in the garden yesterday with the boys I snapped away at various things. I did a little photo shoot with Jordan too which was brilliant! Isn't he just sooooo gorgeous?!

I love the detail that I can get with the new camera too. This daisy is amazing!

These lovely pink roses were from my friend Jean for my birthday back in March. There are so many buds & flowers! The rose is called Carefree Days & it smells wonderful!

During some time drawing with the chalks on the patio Timmy suddenly pipes up 'Look! Lots of 'T' for Timmy!' I watched quite amazed as he wrote lots of capital Ts on the paving slab with great ease. That boy never ceases to astound us! He has taken lately to praying at all times in the day & his little voice can often be heard in the middle of play saying 'Dear God, thankyou for today.....' & he will talk to God for several minutes about his hopes for his birthday cake, or what he has done during the day so far. It really puts a smile on our faces & on God's too I am sure!

Lastly, a random photo of our washing! I love rainbows, I always have. As a child I always sorted felt tip pens into rainbow order before putting them away in the packet & I have continued to sort colours into rainbow order since then. Yesterday I merrily pegged out the washing in a random fashion. when I had finished I sat down on the garden bench to enjoy the sunshine. After a little while I noticed that I had even pegged Jordan's pants on the line in rainbow order! What a nutter eh?!

Hope you are all well & having a great weekend!

Three Little Butterflies...

...sat at the window... (are you humming the song yet???! Yes I know it's really 3 little birds...). The boys made these cute little butterflies today using LOTS of glitter & sprinkles. It was lots of fun! Took me quite a while to clean up though. I expect we will be finding glitter for along time yet!

Other news from today is that we all went to the dentist. I fully intended taking my camera to the dentist but forgot it in the end! Next time I will get some snaps! Had a bit of a shock as the mark I saw on one of Jordan's back teeth is a little surface hole as I suspected. There was much hysterical crying last night when I mentioned it to Jordan, but he was fine when the dentist said he would need a little bit of tooth medicine. I think he must have got it out of his system with me! Anyway, Jordan has been a bit queezy since visiting the dentist....bless his little cotton socks! I feel a little bad that he has a hole so young... We don't eat that much sugary stuff but I guess it's still too much for Jordan!

Timmy & Luke's teeth are perfect! Luke loved sitting in the big chair but Timmy was less keen. However he has been playing dentists since we got back home! All 3 boys loved playing in the kids play room our dentists has so all in all it was a very pleasant trip!

PS Do you like the new look layout? Do post us a comment if you are passing by our blog please! We love to hear from you! ;o)

Posh Sarnies!

It all began with the cress head that Jordan grew at school. I said we could make egg & cress sandwiches for lunch one day & today we did just that! Here's how Jordan made us lunch ALL BY HIMSELF!

First we hard boiled the eggs. Then Jordan peeled them when they had cooled. He loved doing that! He said the eggs felt lovely. Next, he chopped up the eggs in a bowl & mixed in some mayonnaise.

He used the big kitchen scissors to cut his cress & then mixed it into the egg mayonnaise....
...before spreading it onto some bread....

...and cutting it into squares.

He put the sandwiches on plates, one each for his brothers & one for him. He also put tomatoes & cucumber on the plates. Very posh we thought!

We all agreed that the sandwiches tasted 'alicious' (Jordan's way of pronouncing 'delicious')! And that is how a 5 year old makes lunch for his family all by himself! ;O)

Country Bumpkins!

Several weekends ago we went to visit my parents & went on a lovely walk along the canal & through country lanes. Our boys love animals & really enjoyed seeing the cows, horses & dogs that we met along the way. Luke seems to show no fear when it comes to animals, especially dogs, & will walk boldly up to any animal to stroke it. In contrast, Jordan will run a mile from any dog no matter how small or quiet & regardless of whether it is on a lead or not! We are having to teach Luke a little caution when approaching unknown dogs & teach Jordan a bit of boldness! Timmy is somewhere in between these two extremes.

It was wonderful to be able to walk along the country lanes worry very little about passing cars & let the boys have freedom to explore. We crossed over a ford half way through the walk which Luke thought was fantastic! He stood watching the water gushing under the little bridge for ages saying 'Swimming pool!'

We walked along the canal that is slowly being restored. The small section that we walked along was opened a little while ago by John Craven! Mr Swan followed us for a good stretch of the canal & was rather grumpy with us which made me nervous! He even tried to bite Luke's leg! Luckily Luke didn't notice & my mum stamped her foot on the bank to warn him off. (Mrs Swan was further up the canal looking after a nest which is why Mr Swan was overprotective of his canal).

This bridge is where the canal ends for now. The water is full of reeds & mud here but the boys loved going under the bridge. I tried hard to get a nice photo but no-one was really willing to oblige! We saw many tadpoles & frogspawn at the edge of the canal too. The boys loved those & it was extra fun for Jordan because he did all about the life cycle of the frog in his class assembly. One of his lines was 'Frogs start their lives as frogspawn.' which was quite an achievement for him to say as he struggles saying 'fr' & 's' sounds! He was a little star though!

Around the corner of the road there was a boatyard with lots of boats in various states of repair moored up. Jordan was delighted to find a boat named 'Joey' as he was known as Joey from about the age of 3 to nearly 5 years old. When asked his name he would reply 'I'm Joey Jordan Lee Davies'! Naturally, the boys had to pose for a photo here!

Luke, Jordan & Timmy loved looking at all the canal boats & peering into the ones that were moored up. (I hope we didn't disturb anyone inside!!) Luke & Timmy kept saying 'Look! A boat! And it's moving!' We ended our walk at a little tea room/B&B/Post Office/Internet Cafe place all rolled into one for a cuppa & an ice cream. It was lovely (although a little pricey)! There was a 'magic' bin in the toilets that fascinated us all! You waved your hand in front of it to open & close it without having to touch it at all!

Back at my parents house we played in the garden & had a picnic tea outside. The apple tree in their garden was in full bloom & looking gorgeous so I had to take some piccies! My sister, Helen, told me that you can eat apple blossom as part of salad so we both had a taste. It is surprisingly peppery & very like Lamb's lettuce!

Before heading off back to Liverpool my mum gave the boys a bath. Timmy loves playing at being a baby after his bath all wrapped up in his towel just generally being cute! Aaaaah how sweet!

Happy Scrappy!

I'm not really getting anything creative done at the moment, however, I did get these 2 layouts done not so long ago. William Morris (founder of the Arts & Crafts Movement of the late 1800s & designer of some fabulous wallpapers) once said something along these lines; 'Whatever you have in your homes should either be useful or what you perceive to be beautiful.' So it is nice to indulge a little in doing things that I find satisfying & pleasing to look at rather than always plodding on with the less exciting chores that have to be done on a day to day basis in our lively household! ;o)

PS the layouts are of Jordan with the birthday cake I made for him to take into nursery school to share with his friends when he was 4 & a layout of Timmy & Luke planting up some violas in out garden last November. Click on the pictures if you want to have a closer look by the way!

Farmer Ted's

Today Timmy & Luke went on their first school trip! We went to Farmer Ted's on the outskirts of Liverpool. We left school at 9:30am on a double decker coach which delighted the boys! We went on 'the fast road' as Timmy calls the motorway & got there about 10:30am. We groomed a pony called Dancer after we had put our bags in the classroom. The photo above is of Luke enjoying grooming Dancer.
A large part of our day was spent playing on the many exciting climbing frames & slides in the play areas both indoors & out. The combine harvester was particularly popular with the boys. Luke called it a factory! Not quite sure why!!
From the moment Luke spotted the John Deer ride on tractors he was hooked! He kept asking to ride on one & spent ages driving it round & round so he was over the moon when....
.... we got to have a ride in the trailer of a real tractor! The boys loved bumping around listening to cheesy farm songs & seeing all the animals in the fields. I enjoyed it less as I had to twist myself around a bit, whilst balancing on a bale of straw, to hold onto both boys & prevent their heads from banging the railings as we went over many holes & ditches (we were right by the gap to get off the trailer too)!
While Luke loved the ride on tractors, Timmy loved the diggers in the sandpit! He was amazingly good at scooping up the sand & tipping it out again. Just look at the determination on his face (& tongue sticking out! Just like his mother)!

These goats had an overhead walkway through their shed & out into the paddock. It was funny when we were watching Doris the Cow being milked as the goats kept trotting past way up in the rafters of the barn! Wish I'd got a picture now....

The animal highlight of the trip was stroking this lamb, who took an instant liking to Timmy & Luke. Luke loved to hold the lamb gently with a hand either side of it's face. The lamb even gave Timmy a kiss on the nose!!! (Yes, I know Dad!!). We spent a long time with the lamb & his family. Cute!

In our classroom there was a box of farm toys which the boys loved! It was great to see them playing creatively with animals, trailers & tractors. It was a good rest time from all the physical activity too.

After all the excitement of the day & over an hour playing on the indoor soft climbing frame, which was at least as high as a house, the boys were exhausted! We had a little drink of milk in the cafe before boarding the coach home. Luke sat in his seat grumbling for a little while & then he went quiet, flat out asleep for the whole journey home! Minutes later Timmy lay down on the seat & was sleeping soundly too! It was a shame to wake them when we arrived back at school just in time to collect Jordan....

We made the most of the sunshine when we got home & spent an hour making mud pies in the garden before tea! What a fun day! ;o)

A Very British BBQ!

On Saturday we went to our friend Ruth's house for a barbeque to spend some time with Veronica & Oleg, a couple that Lee meet when he went to the Ukraine last September. In true British style we ploughed on with the barbeque despite the heavy rain! The boys loved playing in Ruth's yard & collecting rain in their water bottles not to mention eating crisps & sausages! We also met our old lodger's new baby for the first time. The boys loved playing with baby David so much! Jordan enjoyed pulling funny faces at him & stroking him. Luke made his little baby crying noise that he always makes when anyone mentions anything 'baby' even if it's baby weetabix! They are certainly very sweet with babies. Bodes well for our new addition! ;O)

Another highlight of the weekend was my home town football team, Stevenage Borough, winning the FA Trophy in the first final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium. It was a great match! Stevenage won against Kidderminster 3-2. Fun to go down in history as the first cup winners of the new Wembley! :O)

Baby Baby!

Hee hee! We're having a little alien baby!!!! These are 2 of the latest scan pictures of Baby Davies number 4. The little darling loves sucking his/her thumb & dancing around behind my belly button! I know that I am biased but I really love this sweet baby! It was amazing watching him/her moving around during the scan, which took a long time due to baby's position & the fact that the sonographer was relatively newly qualified. Did you know it takes 18 months to qualify as a sonographer & that you have to have already qualified as something else in the medical profession first? Our sonographer was a radiologist previously. We even saw the heart & all four chambers of the heart pumping away! Amazing! Jordan loved seeing the baby & was fascinated by the colour scan showing the baby's blood flow. He said 'There's fire in your tummy!' when he saw the orange on the screen!

All looks ok but due to Luke's spinal problems we are going back for another scan this Tuesday for a more detailed look. We may even have a 3D scan! Hopefully the fetal specialist won't find any anomalies. We also have lots of decisions to make regarding the birth options too which we weren't expecting to have to make.... Anyway, we will keep you posted! We are very much looking forward to Baby's arrival. It's very exciting! ;O)

Hope you are well! Have a great day!