A post of more photos than I knew blogger could cope with!

I feel as if I've been neglecting this blog considering how many photos I've just uploaded here (31!). I occasionally wonder if anyone even looks at it! But I need to do something with all these photos, so the blog continues - boring as it may be! :-)


Can you spot the Fieldfare hiding in this photo? Last winter we had a number of these birds around here, but this year we've only seen this ONE bird. He frequented our back garden during the many weeks of snow we've had, eating red berries off the bushes. It's a large, heavy bird and I kept trying to get a photo of him. But as you can see, he's quite good at hiding!


Abgiail, Clement and Benjamin with their trains made out of sticklebricks! :-)

Dressed all cosy and wearing a cute wee hat from "Aunty" Nome!

I love her sweet face, if I might say so myself! age around 2.5 months old


Fieldfare again - I've rather enjoyed attempting pics of birds from the windows this winter, while being kept inside with lots of snow!

A beautiful ice formation on some Climbing Hydrangea flowers

icy flowers again! :)

My dear husband and 2 smallest people! :)


Clement has his own unique style of art: he almost always draws in circles! (the giraffes were coloured by someone else, btw) Anyway, as the above shows, there are loads of circular shapes in different colours all over the page. He doesn't usually do the random messy scribbles that so many little children do - it's all circles!

Speaking of Clement, not sure if I've mentioned on here before about him being a chatterbox? He's talking really well now - complete sentences too! He's quite a lot of fun to talk to, though it's a bit crazy when you hear him in the background repeating everything that is said around him, including complicated words! I guess he's trying to practice his language skills, so he copies everything he hears - quite like a parrot! It's really good fun having such talkative children and if Benjamin is anything to go by, once they start talking, they *never* stop! :-)


Out for a walk on New Year's Day - 2.5 months old


Benjamin on a scooter with Peter making sure he doesn't run off!


A cold Clement, all wrapped up (for once! as he usually takes hat & mittens off as soon as he's outside)


Abigail and her scooter


Me looking rather huge, wearing Deborah in the Papoozle, and with a big coat zipped up around her! :)


Me and my baby girl - she's looking a bit grumpy, as she didn't enjoy the cold weather (it was very cold - well below zero)


The beautiful views that we have only a few hundred yards from the house. Can't say Scotland isn't beautiful!


Sheep in a nearby field, with the Dornoch Firth in the background


Deborah *loves* to have a bath! She's very messy tho, as she splashes and kicks like crazy!


Deborah wants to join in with her brothers colouring ;-) (and yes, I'm holding her up!)


such a darling little girl - chewing her favourite blanket


Abigail (complete with messy hair, as always!) wanting her photo taken with Deborah, who she loves to pieces


Looking all grown up here - nearly 3 months


moving about on the floor at 3 months old - a few minutes after I took this photo, I found her about 6 inches further along, with her head off the rug


Picking up some favourite toys. It's quite amazing how skilled she is at grabbing toys and holding them. She's very coordinated and *always* has something in her hands (and mouth!). She's been teething since about 2 months old, as all of my babies seem to do! But if Abigail is anything to go by, the teeth might not appear until she's 8 months! It usually seems as if my babies are teething for a couple of years! :-P


Peek-a-Boo!

3 months old here, and wearing a very special dress, which my dear friend Marilyn in Canada made for her! :-) It's slightly big for her just now, but I was really wanting her to wear it for her baptism, so I tried it on and it wasn't *that* much too big, so she wore it. Oh, and the hat she's wearing in the pic is one that I wore as a baby - still in very good condition, nearly 29 years later! It's great for keeping her ears warm with all the cold weather we've been having.


Modelling the lovely dress again, which is complete with matching "bloomers", which are very sweet looking!


Abigail and her mini snowman


Deborah seems to have skipped right past baby books and board books - she's got rather advanced taste ;-) as seen by her keen attention and excitement as Peter was reading "Harry's Mad" by Dick King-Smith! It was hilarious how excited she was, even giggling! She seems to love hearing books read.


Another one of the happy little girl listening to the book


My dear Benjamin


And the very cheeky Clement

December in pictures

Once again, no time for many words, but here are 26 photos - one from November, and the others from the past 25 days of December! :-)

Well, when you live in a house that contains around 6,000+ books, you gotta start learning to enjoy them young! :-D This was taken yesterday, Deborah being nearly 10.5 weeks old. She seemed very interested in the book and was moving her fingers all over the page.


This was our first major snow this winter (er, Autumn actually!) at the end of November. It was about a foot deep and stayed for around 2 weeks, if I remember correctly. We had originally planned to go to Edinburgh at the end of Nov to get American passports for Clement and Deborah - even booked a room at Travelodge for the night. But just days before the planned trip, the snow began to fall and it piled up everywhere between here and Edinburgh! So we had to cancel our plans. We were thankful we hadn't tried to attempt going, as there were hundreds of people stuck in their cars around Perth, etc. Eventually we got a thaw around the middle of December and Peter looked at the forecast and realised that there were supposed to be a few days of clear weather before the next lot of snow arrived. So on Monday the 13th we drove down to Edinburgh, stayed overnight, went to the American Consulate the next morning, and arrived back home in the evening (Tuesday). There were piles of snow by the roads everywhere, quite deep in Perth, and a fair bit in Edinburgh too. I found it surprising that some lanes of fairly major roundabouts were still blocked with snow, only leaving one lane left to use. But thankfully we had a safe trip there and back. The following day was still clear of snow, and a nearly complete melt around where we live. I was able to walk into town without meeting anything frozen, which was nice. But by Thursday/Friday, the snow paid another visit. And it's been here ever since. We've had at least 7 inches on the ground for the past 10 days or so. But we're very glad for the 3 clear days that made it possible for us to get to Edinburgh. Clement and Deborah have already received their passports in the post too. And thankfully their British passports don't require any long distance trips! :) So hopefully we'll soon be organised and can think about booking airline tickets for a trip to Texas in February! :-D (Though I think it will be a bit hectic having a transatlantic trip with 4 children aged 5 and under!)


Sitting in the baby swing, around 7 weeks old. She occasionally likes being in it for a bit, but isn't really all that sure about it! LOL


Beginning to chew her hands (beginning of Dec - around 7 weeks old) - and now she loves her hands - and anything else she can get into her mouth! :-)


7.5 weeks old - our dear little sweetheart!


Getting bigger! (7.5 weeks old)


Nearly looking fat here, though she is wearing a few layers of clothes!


Looking quite mature here all dressed up! :-) (8.5 weeks old)


Abigail and Clement doing some colouring - at one of their new sets of table & chairs that we got from Ikea when we were in Edinburgh! ;-) (Can't possibly go to Edinburgh without visiting Ikea!)


Benjamin making a funny face at me for taking his photo with his Lego! He plays with Lego several times a day.


My darling little girl who is too sweet! She's an amazingly good baby and *still* sleeps perfectly at night (yes, waking only once in the night is *more* than perfect for a baby!).


Enjoying some toys, around 9 weeks old. I realised what a bad mummy I was for not giving her toys to explore sooner! [blush] I'm usually trying to keep her safe from her brothers, so she's often near me in the kitchen in her carrycot - watching my every move as I cook and wash dishes! But I sat her on the couch with some toys recently and she loved it. She actually fell asleep like this - guess the stimulation must have exhausted her!


Looking up from her toys at the camera!


Painting in the kitchen = mess!


Some of our snow this month


I love this picture here - she looks so sweet!


A rare quiet moment for these brothers! Enjoying a book together! :-)


Wondering why I'm taking their photo


Beautiful snow - with a robin hiding in the branches!


Robin taken with zoom on my camera


Chaffinch, enjoying some berries outside the kitchen window. Washing dishes has been a lot more enjoyable recently - the snow brings out some birds we rarely see otherwise. I made pinecone bird feeders with Abigail and Benjamin earlier this week (using peanut butter and bird seed to coat them with) and the birds seem to like them!


Blue Tit, on a purchased bird feeder


My dear Benjamin - with lego again! :-) Well, these are actually some "Click Brick" sets I've bought him recently. In an attempt to build up their Lego stash (since it's something that occupies Benjamin quite a lot), I came across Click Brick, which is made by Fia Toys. I was amazed with the quality of their bricks - they really are identical, and I kept expecting to find "Lego" stamped across them as I made up the sets! LOL There are a few design aspects that aren't up to Lego standards (like some wheels too close to the bricks, etc) but the actual pieces themselves are really good! And you'd never dream of getting a brand new 600 piece set of Lego for under £11 including postage! So I have got slightly carried away and bought rather a lot of these sets, as they seemed such good value! But I did stash away a few of them for Benjamin's birthday, which will be here (in March) before I know it.


All cosy and warm - ready to go out! 10 weeks old


Abigail showing me *her* "lego" set earlier this week! This one looked lovely and girly (a cute house) but is a different brand, and I have to say, rather inferior quality. It was a struggle to build and some of the pieces pop off a bit (like the fences, swing and palm tree) but she still has fun with it.


Precious - don't you agree?! :-)

OK, must get dinner sorted! I feel I've been busy all day - Saturdays are always busy it seems - even when the rest of the world is on holiday! LOL At least I managed to get bathrooms cleaned, several loads of clothes washed, and laundry put away this morning. And I've made some chocolate cupcakes this afternoon, between washing dishes, feeding Deborah, and trying to do a blog post.