Born on the 4th of July

Ian was 30 on July 4th & we all celebrated at my parents house with a traditional children's party! I made Ian a cake, of course. It's a fish because Ian loves fish & has several aquariums at his house. We couldn't fit 30 candles on it though!
When we arrived the children played out in the garden. This photo says it all- Annie-Joy playing quietly with her doll's pram & the boys in the back ground falling wildly all over the place in their usual exuberant style!
Ian brought his camera & tripod for the annual family photo. The kids enjoyed posing while Ian got the shot right.

We just got the pictures taken before the rain came! I think it's rather good, don't you?

My dear Mum organised lots of team games & pass the parcel & the like. It was lots of fun! (Click the photo to see the details!) Thanks Mum!

The apple tree had to be climbed many times too!

Annie-Joy was a little cautious to begin with when it came to meeting Putney Puppy for the second time & preferred to view him from the safety of Daddy's arms... for a while at least & then she decided he was quite good fun to play with after all!

There were snails to look at....

...hover flies to photograph....

...and butterflies to eat! Butterfly cakes that I made that is! My Mum & Dad did a great job of providing a delicious birthday tea with all Ian's requests- jelly & ice cream, egg mayonnaise sarnies, pizza & more! Yummy!

Don't Helen & Ian look great in their party hats? Hee hee! :o) Thankyou Mum & Dad for all your hard work organising the party. We all had a wonderful time. Mwah!

One Hundred and Eight Fairy Cakes!

A few friends of mine, whose children go to the same school as my boys & I decided to organise a cake sale to raise money for the school fund. My creative mind went off dreaming up exciting decorations for the cakes that would be really appealing to the school kids. I came up with these cookie monster cakes! I had to try a batch out with the boys before the sale just to make sure they worked ok! ;o)

It was such fun! The boys used a piping bag to squidge the blue cookie monster 'fur' on & then put a black dot onto white chocolate buttons to make the eyes & stuck them on the cake along with a mini cookie to finish the whole monster off (although I decided that breaking a normal size cookie in half looked better & was more cost effective). Luke was impressed, not only that the cake tasted delicious, but that he was ''really good at putting the icing on, Mummy!'' A success all round I feel.

When the school cake sale came around, I decorated 108 ready made shop bought fairy cakes & transformed them with melted chocolate, sprinkles, smarties, fudge icing, glace icing, icing flowers, butter icing, cherries & more! (Do click the photos to see the cakes better!). I was pleased with the finished results.... but WAIT!!.....

... there's one cake missing!!!!.....

I wonder who ate that one?? :D

The school cake sale was a HUGE success & raised £85 in less than 20 minutes! The headmaster was impressed that the parents parted so easily & quickly with their money! I was glad that my cakes sold really well... in fact by the time I had picked Timmy & Luke up from their class & got into the school hall, all my cakes had gone! What a relief! I had an awful feeling my cakes would be left behind... Anyway, good job I saved one each for us all to have with our tea!

Hope all who read are very well & enjoying the start of the summer holidays. Till next time! :o)

The Dream

The Dream is a fantastic 20 metre high sculpture of an 8 year old girl's head standing on top of the old Sutton Manor Colliery site near St Helens. We visited it a few weeks ago.
It looks out over the M62 towards the Runcorn Bridge (which is what the boys were looking at here but it didn't show up on the photo!). You can just see the M62 on the left hand side of the picture. Quiet isn't it?
It really is quite something! Spanish artist Jaume Plensa created it as part of Channel 4's Big Art scheme. He worked along side a group of miners who used to work at the pit before it was closed in 1991. The miners wanted something positive to mark the pit site (which is now owned by the Forestry Commission). The idea for the sculpture came from the colliery's motto 'ex terra lucem' which means 'from the earth comes light'. It is made of concrete & Spanish dolomite (white marble) to contrast the black coal that is still scattered over the site. She is dreaming because Plensa says that 'in our dreams, anything is possible.' I like that. I think it's true & it also reminds me of the verse in the Bible that says that with God all things are possible. I love to dream! It's even better to know that with God my dreams can be more than just dreams - they can become possible! :o)
Annie-Joy & the boys had a lot of fun going round & round the plinth that The Dream sits on (or should that be stands on? What does a head without a body do?!).....
.... they especially loved the door at the back of the sculpture. Timmy & Luke were sure that someone lived inside the head. Perhaps there were stairs all the way to the top too? We found out later from a friend who works for Liverpool Biennial, that it is the door leading to the light mechanism! The sculpture is supposed to have a huge beam of light coming out of the top of it at night so it really is bringing light from the ground so to speak. Unfortunately they haven't got planning permission for it yet!
I love how the head peeps up over the hill in an eerie but strangely peaceful way!

The walk back through the pit site was very pleasant. The boys enjoyed the freedom to run & explore....

.... I enjoyed taking a few photos of the lovely meadows...

....and all the gorgeous flowers hiding in amongst the grasses. This is where Timmy discovered he does like butter! It was good to spend some quiet one to one time with him (we got left behind the rest of the tribe as we marvelled at all the flowers!).

It was good but also sad, to see the original National Coal Board gates at the other entrance to the woodland. It's a little reminder of the local history in case we should ever forget. I like that. :o)

The Davies Tribe Spectacles Parade!

At last I have surfaced from a week of medical appointments, school trips & performances, an emergency visit to the doctors for Timmy due to a bee sting on his mouth & a rather nasty cough & cold that saw me take to my bed & sleep A LOT (unheard of for me!!). Phew!! I feel all in a muddle & there's only 4 days of the school year left! so much to do, so little time (or energy!!).

Anyway, back to business! As I mentioned, about a hundred years ago (as Timmy would say!), Timmy & Luke got glasses because the school eye sight test showed that they were practically blind!!!!!!! A further more detailed test at Alder Hey Hospital revealed that things weren't all that bad but that they did need glasses as they are long sighted & have a stigmatism. They LOVE their new Sponge Bob glasses (no we don't watch the programme, the boys just liked the styles!). They look very cute don't you think?
Wearing glasses goes way back for the boys. This is Cool Dude Timothy aged 6 months wearing Jordan's sunglasses!
And this is Cool Dude Luke aged 3 years wearing Lee's sunglasses .

Jordan also had to have an eye test as his teacher rang me to say she was concerned because Jordan seemed to be having difficulty reading his lines for the school play. Turns out that Jordan is short sighted but not quite bad enough to need glasses..... yet! He has to go back for another test in 6 months.... Jordan really liked the Action Man glasses though! ;o)

He has always enjoyed wearing glasses too! Here is Cool Dude Jordan aged 5 wearing his own sunglasses! Can you see Timmy in the lens reflection? Not sure who the other one is- looks too dark to be Luke but I suppose it must be him!!

And Annie- Joy couldn't be left out could she? She loved trying on all the glasses in the opticians once she got the hang of how to put them on!!

And the little girl in the mirror kept her entertained for quite some time while we waited for Jordan to have his eyes tested! What fun eh?

Hope all who read are well. Do drop us a line if you're reading this- it's always good to hear from you! Bye for now! :o)

Feeling Hot?

I am! We got the paddling pool & water slide out in our back garden the other day after school. It was fun!!
It's quite a climb up the slide....
...to the top! Water sprinkles down to make the slide slippery. None of the boys like getting their faces wet under it!

It makes quite a splash in the little pool at the bottom!!

Timmy enjoyed sunbathing for a little bit too.

Our friend Jean came to visit us too. She brought the children jelly babies! Yum! This is Luke telling Jean he's grumpy because he didn't go to sleep straight away at bedtime. He wasn't actually grumpy at all that day...

I think this was Annie-Joy's first time in the paddling pool... It was certainly the first time she had worn a swimming costume even though I got her this one last summer! She enjoyed pouring water over & over & was quite miffed when it was time to go in for tea!

Aaaah! What simple fun water play is.... We love it! :o) I'm still organising & sorting our house although this hot weather really doesn't make me want to do anything at all. I'm wondering if I should sort my bookshelves like this? Hahaha!! Perhaps not, but it is a lot of fun!:o)

Random Things

Annie-Joy LOVES to wash up & play with water & bubbles!

The children LOVE to watch Kerwhizz on cBeebies together when they get home from school.

Bowling at Hollywood Bowl is only 1p per person per game if you book in advance on line during school holidays! Jordan used 2p to pay for himself & his Daddy to play a game! He couldn't believe it!!

The boys are rather prone to slips, trips, falls & bangs on the head at the moment. You should see the number of accident report forms I have from just one week! I have had to bring both twins home early from school on separate occasions because they banged their heads badly!

I went upstairs one Sunday before church and sneaked a photo of Jordan & Luke the Ladybird reading quietly in our bed. Cute!

Annie-Joy loves to play with my little jars of buttons (which are sorted into colour groups!). she will spend ages taking them out of the jar & putting them back again! What fun!

I've been making lots of cards & things lately. This one was for my friend Kerry at her surprise birthday breakfast at another friend's house on the morning of her birthday.

Annie-Joy enjoyed playing the piano at afore mentioned birthday breakfast!

Timmy discovered that he does indeed like butter! What a handsome chap!

Luke still loves dressing up as Superman & often asks us to call him by his REAL name- Clark Kent! He's a character isn't he? :o)