It's A Twin Thing!

Yesterday Luke came home from school with a huge plaster on his elbow as he had had a nasty fall in the playground. Today, Timmy came home with a plaster on his elbow from a similar, unrelated fall in the playground. Neither boy has ever had an accident at school before (except the usual bumps & even then not very often). How strange that they both had the 'same' accident so close together!!
Timmy has taken a while to come to terms with the fact that he is a twin but lately he seems to have realised how good it can be to have an almost constant companion around. It's sweet to watch the two boys grow together & see their connection become stronger. I found this photo of the boys tonight from 2005. Luke was so tired that he just lay down & fell asleep on the kitchen floor (he used to fall asleep in all kinds of places around this time- in his high chair at meal times, on the stairs etc!). When Timmy saw him sleeping there, he bent down to give him a kiss & then lay down to 'sleep' next to his twin brother. Isn't that lovely? :o)

Well, I had better go as there's lots to be done that I couldn't do during the day as I have been nursing a poorly Jordan. Hope you're all well & having a great week. Goodbye till next time & happy April!

A Step By Step Guide to Baking A Cake By Annie-Joy!

This was Annie Joy's first go at baking & she LOVED it! Here's how she helped to make my birthday cake;

1 put sugar & margarine into a bowl

2 Cream them together (with Mummy's help!)

3 Add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour & mix well

4 Fold in the rest of the flour & add cocoa to make it chocolatey!

5 Mix really really well (until Mummy says it really is time for the mix to go into the oven & try not to cry too much!)

6 Stop crying & enjoy licking the bowl!

7 When the cake is baked, cover with melted chocolate & smarties. Mmmmm!!

8 Sing Happy Birthday to Mummy

9 Eat the cake! Yummy!!

10 Repeat steps 1-6 two weeks later for Daddy's birthday.

When the cake is baked let your three brothers cover the cake with butter cream & decorate with Maltesers!

Sing Happy Birthday to Daddy before eating the cake after dinner!

World Book Day

Yesterday was World Book Day at the boys' school & for the first time they had a dressing up day where everyone (teachers included!) went as a character from a book. Timmy went as a Little Ladybird from the book Ten Little Ladybirds, Luke went as Harry from Harry & His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs & Jordan went as Mr Bear from Mr Bear Babysits (he loves the part where Mr Bear sings 'Twinkle, twinkle little slug, leaving slime trails on the rug'!!). We went to the park after school along with an assortment of Power Rangers, Princesses & the Peach from James & the Giant Peach! It was fun!!
This what the bear face painting I did in a hurry after breakfast looked like before it got smudged at school. It did the job but I would make a few adaptions now that I look at it again, to make it more bear like! There wasn't time to take a good photo of all the boys in the rush to get out of the door on time though.
Annie Joy joined in the dressing up & wore her Very Hungry Caterpillar coat. Did you know that The Very Hungry Caterpillar is 40 years old this year? Eric Carle is 80 this year too! We bought the coat for Jordan in America when he was Annie's age. We all love it!

As part of World Book Day talking homework the boys had to take photos of their family reading in unusual places. Here they are reading in the bath.....

....under Timmy's bed.....

...and on the stairs! We also had to talk about my favourite children's book & children's author. I found it really hard to choose just one favourite book but in the end I decided it was The Box of Delights by John Masefield. I couldn't narrow down the authors though & sent the boys back into school with a list including C.S Lewis, Noel Streatfield, Paul Gallico & Lucy M. Boston. Lee's favourite book is The Hobbit. There are just so many great books out there aren't there?!

Luke also had to make a book for WBD. He made up his own story & stuck photos in to illustrate it except for the last page where he drew his own picture (because I didn't have a photo already that would 'do'!!). It's a sweet story!

Timmy wrote a book with 6 facts about himself in it. I love his Winne the Pooh drawing!

And now I am worn out with all these projects!! :o)

Today is Lee's birthday so Annie Joy & I have made a cake for the boys to decorate when they get in from school. Busy little bees we are eh? Till next time! Byeeeee!!

Big Brother

At last I have a little time to post piccies from half term! Half term was a blur of visiting friends, playing in the park, telly watching, gardening & cake baking to name a few things we did! I love this photo of Annie Joy & her big big brother. They get on so well! (That's just as well because they share a bedroom!!)
Jordan is so caring towards his little sister & she loves him so much! She runs to her Dan Dan to hug him so often.
On this trip to the park Jordan was showing me his Spiderman moves (doing backward roll thingies holding onto the swing chains). He is very good at them but on his last attempt he fell off & landed on the ground....

.... Annie Joy rushed over & stroked his head to make sure he was alright! How sweet!!

Timmy & Luke love running on the swings (if you get what I mean!!)...

... and everyone enjoyed spinning on the roundabout! Luke got VERY dizzy though!! It was good to see how the boys played so well with each other over the holidays. They created some wonderful imaginative games together. In fact, the chalk road markings they drew on our driveway for one game are still visible today! Who says we have a lot of rain in England eh?? LOL!!

Annie Joy loves to push her pram around although it's a bit of a stretch for her!

She also loved sitting on the see saw with or without Timmy on the other end.

The boys made butterfly cakes in half term too. They pretty much did everything themselves except for cutting the top of the cakes off. They did an excellent job! Timmy declared the cakes to be The Best Butterfly Cakes In The World!! I think he was right, don't you? ;o)

Hope all who so faithfully read are well & enjoying the sunny weather we are having at the moment. TTFN!

Snapshots from the Family Album

On February 16th the Green side of the family got together under sad circumstances namely the death of my Uncle Richard's second wife, Marianne. Despite the sadness it was really good to see the family again, most of whom I had not seen since I was 15 years old! The photo above is of the Okines family- me, my sister Helen & Mum & Dad.

Here I am with Helen & our cousin Zoe. The family resemblance between Helen & Zoe is amazing! The last time I remember seeing Zoe she made my Flower Patch doll, Izzy dance like Fergil Sharkey!!!

And here is my dear mother with her two brothers, Ben & Richard. Richard really does look like his Dad!

During the two days away we did lots of catching up with other friends in Stevenage. We looked through Mary's scrapbooks & had a HUGE laugh at all the 80s fashion disasters etc that were contained therein!! This photo is from my 10th birthday party. I am just on the left hand side. We are playing pass the parcel in case you think everyone is trying to steal my present!!

This photo should be entitled 'What was I thinking?' on so many levels!! I have no idea what possessed me to go ice skating in shorts!! And where did that top come from???!!! I am with Marie of blog commenting fame by the way!

Again, what were we thinking?!! (Left to right; Marie, Me, Helen & Jessica). Check out my Matt Goss knee patch on my jeans! Boy did we think we were the bees knees then!! We were helping Marie with her paper round. I am still waiting for my wages Marie!!! LOL!!

And this photo of me, my mum & my Dad busking at Spring Harvest highlights the reason why I must have hair products on my hair! I'm wearing the flowery leggings by the way! :o)

Incidentally, it's my birthday today. I have had a lovely day & feel thoroughly spoilt! Piccies to follow of me & the cake soon (ish!!). Hope all who read are well. TTFN!!

Love Hearts & Football

A little update for you of some of the Davies Tribe goings on of late! The boys & I have been busy baking biscuits for Valentine's Day. I made the biscuits above to take to our friends house on Valentine's Day when we went there for a meal. We had a lovely day with the Ellis-Lee family but, although I took my camera with me I forgot to take it out of my bag so I don't have anything to show you of the lovely walk we had on Bidston Hill by the windmill or our visit to Tam O'Shanter's Urban Farm (which Timmy & Luke said was a pretend farm because all we saw for a while were plastic animal statues standing in the paddocks!!). Of course, the high light for the boys was when the pig went to the toilet & milking the cow (the plastic one which is full of water so when you squeeze the udder teats it's like milking a real cow!!). It was good to be out in the 'country'!!
The boys & I went into mass production of the heart shaped chocolate dipped biccies & made them for all their class mates & all the teachers in the school too! This is the card & basket I made to put the biscuits in that were to go in the staff room. (Photo hurriedly taken before we legged it to school just on time!!)
Jordan wrote inside the card beautifully & Luke & Timmy signed their names too.
Jordan has been busy too playing football at Liverpool Football Club's Academy. It's big isn't it?

This is his 'team' photo with their coach. Spot Jordan the only one without a football kit on!!

This is a photo that Lee took on his mobile of Jordan in the middle of his coaching session. Jordan LOVED going to football training & Lee was a very proud Dad watching him score & save goals. I wonder if it will lead to other sporting opportunities?

I feel like I have neglected my blog for a while for which I must apologise! I have been having a serious de-clutter & organise of our house & I have been trying not to get distracted! It's going well so far (isn't it Mum?!) & I hope to show you photos of our house very soon now that our new house is now a year lived in, so watch this space!

I've also been rediscovering my love of reading lately. These are some of the books I have read The Shack (absolutely brilliant!), Sorted, It's All Too Much, Paper, Scissors, Death (not as gruesome as it sounds or as daft when you read that it's a Scrap N Craft Mystery!!), The Penny & Super Girl to name a few! I can recommend them all very highly!

Well, time to go I think. I hope all who read are very well! TTFN! :o)

He Washed Up!

I shouldn't really be surprised because Jordan has been a very helpful boy right from the start but of late there has been a reluctance to help out unless it means he gets to stay up late or if he'll get paid for the job!! Yesterday, however, Jordan came home from school & asked if he could empty the dishwasher & put away all the clean dishes. I've usually done this with Annie Joy as part of our lunch time routine but I didn't get a chance on Friday, so Jordan did it for me! He then asked if he could wash up the lunch boxes (the boys each have a Laptop Lunch box that look like this). How could I refuse?
Annie Joy didn't want to be left out so climbed up onto the chair to help too. It all got rather wet & bubbly from then on! Jordan declared that washing up was SO MUCH FUN & he wanted to do it every day! And low & behold he woke me first thing this morning to tell me that he had just dried up the lunch box things & put them all away & could he empty the dishwasher again before getting everyone breakfast! And he hasn't even asked if he's going to get a reward for all his work bless his heart!
One last thing to tell you before I go & do some LAUNDRY (Mother!! ;-D ). We went to Messy Church at our church (yes that is Jordan on the website banner!) this afternoon. The Youth Band did the worship which was fun! In the middle of singing Timmy suddenly spotted a rather large industrial hoover in the corner of the hall & said to me 'Look Mummy! God has been doing the hoovering!' I love it! ;o)

On Yer Bike!

Annie Joy & her brothers had a lot of fun today in the snow (a LOT more has fallen since these pictures were taken! I'm wondering whether school will be cancelled tomorrow...). We stopped at the field on the way home from school & played for ages in the hiding places. Annie stood & watched mostly as the grass was a bit long so it was hard for her to step over it with the snow as well. I made a giant snowball & then took it home in a carrier bag to make into a snowman at home! The boys enjoyed having snowball fights. Anyway! Back at home the snow play continued in the garden & Annie discovered the bike! She can climb on all by herself....

....although a lot of concentration is required!!
She was proud of herself sitting on the bike! What a clever girl eh?! (By the way, Annie Joy is wearing the snowsuit that belonged to Jordan when he was one!).

Annie Joy has also discovered colouring last week when we wrote our Christmas thankyou cards. She spent ages 'writing' her thankyou card to her Godparents. She is even holding her crayon properly!!
Not bad for a beginner eh? :o) Hope all who read are well. I am off to bed now I think. All this playing in the snow is hard work & I feel a bit sneezy & snuffly! Night night!

PS Luke says yes, Marie the plane can drop custard pies too! And yes, the tooth fairy visits our house Suzi, Helen & Ian but Jordan wanted to keep his milk teeth himself. :o)