A Day Out and Benjamin's 7th Birthday, etc.

I realised that I've only posted on here once this year, and it will soon be April! So time for a brief update.

The days are getting longer and there's more sunshine - always welcome after winter! And the big windows in the lounge mean they can enjoy the sunshine even when indoors, though they *have* been spending a lot more time outside too, which is great! :-)

One sunny day last month we decided to have a spur of the moment "day out" - like when you only come up with the idea half way through the morning and then quickly make a packed lunch and get everyone in the car and go! I couldn't really find anything actually "open" (as in, museums or castles, etc) at this time of year, but the grounds of Brodie Castle are open year round, so we headed over there (near Forres).

The kids look tiny next to the tall tower! ;-)

Elijah had lots of fun at the play park behind the castle.

Deborah enjoyed it too! It was just us parents who were freezing from standing there watching them! ;-)

Lunch!

I wonder if this is Scotland's only 24 hour bookshop? And it's outdoors too!

Bookshelves outdoors and you just put the money through the door if you want to buy something! :-)

In early March we were at Rebekah's birthday party, which the kids all enjoyed! Abigail's odd face is a result of me telling her to smile, ;-) she doesn't like me making comments about how she's looking for a camera. [oops]

Then a few days later (last week) it was Benjamin's 7th birthday!

A very excited Benjamin when he found a "Moshi Monsters" collector's guide book inside one of his presents. He usually knows what he is getting for his birthday. He doesn't like the "unknown", so telling him what presents he is getting helps him cope better in the weeks before his birthday. :-) But I always try to include a couple of things which he *doesn't* know about, and he actually quite likes the surprise, as you can tell here! :-D

Birthday boy and presents

The cake!

The creatures on the cake are "Moshlings", which Benjamin likes to collect and is quite "into" - even more than Lego at the moment!

My big 7 year old boy and his cake! :-)

Deborah and her new doll

And here it looks like dolls aren't needed - little brothers are a lot more fun to put in doll prams! ;-)

I think they both agree here!

Smallest boy with a very big book!

Pulling books off the shelf yesterday and trying to pick out a "school book" to do.

This little guy loves to hang out in the kitchen with me - ALL the time!

And he *loves* to put all sorts of things in the microwave! ;-) One of Benjamin's birthday presents vanished for a day - I found it in there late at night! lol

Winter Months - without blogging!

Well, despite my best intentions last autumn, when I hoped I wouldn't neglect this blog for so long, I've now gone nearly a few months without an update. I guess we've had a quiet couple of months at home doing nothing out of the ordinary. However, even when doing "nothing much", I still manage to take quite a few photos of daily life, ;-) and then when I think of my blog and where I left off with last time, I'm not sure where to start. So here's a random bunch of photos from the past couple of months - as usual for me! :-) I've also squeezed in a bit of time for sewing and crochet here and there recently, so I guess I've been doing that at times when I might have thought about blogging - another excuse for my silence.

But today I'm not doing much this afternoon - just cuddling little ones, as the children (minus Abigail so far) have a really nasty cold with barking cough - sounds painful and with 4 of them barking, it's awful noisy at times! Anyway, we still managed lessons this morning (at least it gave them something to do!) but a fairly quiet afternoon (kids having turns on the computer), so I thought I'd use the time to sit down and upate this blog.

Peter and the biggest 4, on New Year's day. It was very cold, but beautiful & sunny, so we took a walk nearby.

Me and smallest 2 boys, also on New Year's Day (more photos further down this post from our walk that day).

This was too cute not to capture - Elijah looked like he was trying to tidy himself away with the toys! :-D

How I often find the smallest two when the house suddenly goes quiet! Yes, there ARE occasions when I find Elijah splashing in the toilet or creating a work of art on one of the walls! :-p But thankfully I think it's safe to say that about 80% of the time when it goes quiet and I think "Oh no, what are they doing?!" I find that Deborah has invited Elijah to "read" books with her.

Elijah & Benjamin at the park last week, after one of our homeschool meet-ups. They're wearing hats that I crocheted recently. ;-)

My lovely 3 year old Deborah who was asking for a job to do - she unloaded the whole dishwasher by herself and was *very* pleased with herself. :-D

Elijah giving a dolly a ride on his bike.

Elijah with another hat I made - he decided to call it a "turtle hat" - good thinking, as it looks rather turtle like! lol

Elijah and his brick tower. I was quite impressed with his thinking, and how he built it on the stairs so he could go up a level to make it taller than he'd be able to reach if it was on the floor.

Norman ships they made to go along with their history lesson about the Normans.

Waffle bricks are something else Elijah *loves*. They were a great buy when I found them in a charity shop for £5 last year! But I didn't realise JUST how much the kids would actually use them - all the time!

The sunny weather we had on New Year's Day.

Walking in the sunshine

Deborah, Clement, and Abigail

Elijah

It IS beautiful up here! :-)

Clement throwing stones

Everyone joining in.

Elijah had the best place on the walk - snuggled next to mama! He DID ask to get down and walk quite a few times, but we walked a LONG way (and even the 3yo and 4.5yo were complaining of how long it was) and towards the end, Elijah had a lovely sleep.

At the end of December I took the kids out for a walk to town and to the park. Again, on a day when we could enjoy the sunshine, even if it was rather low in the sky and a bit hidden at times.

Deborah, Abigail & Benjamin

My biggest 3 - growing up so fast! :-)

My "baby" who is very much not a baby! Abigail tells me that once he turns 2 (in June) then I really can't call him baby anymore! :-P He's very cuddly, but also very grown up - he talks ALL day long and there's nothing he *can't* say. He's even mastered more complicated words like elephant and is always talking in sentences, and about everything around him.

All five of them

Watching the ducks

Not much point in trying to take a photo of them with the sun in their face! Oops!

One happy Benjamin to have the sun behind him now! ;-)

I give up - a photo of them all looking nicely at me is rarely possible!

So, one blog update complete and now there's dinner to cook! Though I think the memory card in my camera is full of photos not included here, but I've posted enough already for one post! :-P I'll make no promises of when I'll blog again, but as always, I'll *try* to not take too long!