Just to say I'm still here...

Afraid this post is full of rather boring and poor quality photos! Sorry!Seems I've not been using my camera very much lately! Anyway, just thought I'd try to update here since it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted.

My family (dad and siblings) have all escaped back to Texas - with Anna too, of course! Well, they've moved over there - so not exactly an escape. ;-) Anyway, they left on Tuesday of this week, so I no longer have any immediate family here in the UK! :( OK, maybe that's not exactly true - as I have my lovely husband and children here - but I'm sure my readers will know what I'm meaning. Abigail keeps talking about wanting to go to Texas - I'm sure she mentions it several times a day - as well as the fact that she told her daddy the other day she wanted to move to America. A few times she said she wanted us to drive to Texas in our car but I explained that there is a great big ocean to cross, so you *can't* drive there. So tonight as she was going to bed she said "I wanted to drive to Texas in our car but there's an ocean in the way!" Poor Benjamin is really missing them all as well. You'd think he was quite young to understand things like that (as he's not yet 18 months), but whenever you mention any of their names in front of him, he gets really sad, and in a very somber tone of voice says "bye bye, all gone".

Anyway, here's the said Benjamin with his injured eye. It actually happened on the 12th of August, but I had so many pics from the animal park in my last posts that I didn't include anything else.

This photo was taken on the day, but it doesn't actually show how swollen it was above his eye. Poor wee thing - he really scared me. In fact, he scared us enough to take him to the hospital to have it checked out - but thankfully he was OK. He'd run full force into his train table, which has a very sharp edge. His eye is nearly all better (2.5 weeks later) tho now he has a very red nose from a fall on the pavement outside. I think he's just toooo active for his own good! :-)

Here is Benjamin and Abigail modeling their new cardigans which a very dear friend sent to them (a friend of hers made them)! They look lovely & cosy and are a perfect fit. The below photo is rather similar, but I liked the expressions on their faces above! :)

A more sensible pose! :) I think Benjamin looks bigger than his big sister!

Riding their tricycles! We got Benjamin one last week as he was always wanting to ride Abigail's - but I think his legs need to get a big longer before he can get much use out of it.

Here is Abigail, who is now officially a Big Girl! :-) Noooo, she's not potty trained yet - hopefully we'll get there eventually (she has actually done quite well the past 2 days). Anyway, she's a big girl in that she is completely weaned (in the American sense of the word that is, as British people seem to use the word to mean the introduction of solids....which she had at 6 months!). Anyway, since 9 days ago she's not had any drinks from mummy. For several months now the only thing she's had from me is a wee drink to go to sleep at night. But now, not even that. What's more - for 3 nights now she's gone to sleep in her own room, by herself - as simple as that! No, I didn't have to do *anything* extreme, no discipline even - just give her a big cuddle and tell her that it's bedtime and she's meant to stay in bed and go to sleep - and within 5 minutes she's been asleep! Wow - didn't think it could be so easy. She *has* required a small bowl of cereal in bed most nights lately - seems she gets hungry even if she's just had dinner 1.5 hours before. But if it helps her sleep better (and she's certainly not overweight by any stretch of the imagination) then I'm happy to give her a wee snack to help her drop off to sleep. She was a bit more wound up tonight and kept talking a lot to herself before she fell asleep - but amazingly she never got out of bed once. I mean, in other things she's no way this obedient - but for some reason - *so far* - she's got the idea that she's to stay in bed and she calls me if she needs something - which is either a cuddle or a bowl of cereal. I'm sure it won't always be so easy, but for now I'm thankful that the big transition is going so smoothly.

"Up!" - Benjamin is a bit obsessed with the idea of anything "up"! Whether it's a bee flying higher or a neighbour raising his arm to wash his windows, Benjamin seems to notice that something is going UP. :-)

A Peacock Butterfly that we had in the garden today - they seemed to love my marigolds. Benjamin loved to see them too - maybe it's something to do with wings? He kept calling them "butter" - with a real emphasis on the Ts - and he was sad when they flew away.

I had my friend Ruth over this morning, which was really nice. Benjamin enjoyed playing with her little boy, who is the same age as him.

OK, should get myself off to bed soon. Do leave comments if anyone is reading - always nice to hear from you all. :)

Black Isle Wildlife Park

The home education group we get together with each month had been planning a "field trip" to the Black Isle Wildlife Park for several weeks now and today was the day. Of course, that meant it would be pouring rain all morning - and we were supposed to meet up at half past 12 .

I invited my friend Sharon and her daughters to come along as well so she came to the house this morning. It was soooo wet that we weren't sure what we'd end up doing - or if we'd have to cancel the whole outing, which would of course be quite disappointing for the children. We ended up having lunch together at the house - hoping the rain would eventually stop! In the end it did! Yay! So we left here sometime after 1:30. Unfortunately not all of the regular people were able to make it for the trip but two families did - and although they arrived long before us, we still got to see them for a bit, so that was nice. The weather was just perfect - not a drop of rain until we were already getting into the car ready to leave. So the day was a success after all - tho looking out the window this morning, you'd never have guessed!

Abigail and Benjamin had lots of fun looking at all the animals and running about - even if they were both a bit overtired before we started. They both fell asleep just before we got there! Poor things! Abigail woke up soon after we got out of the car (tho still looked tired for a while) and Benjamin would have probably slept for ages if we hadn't got him out of the pushchair and woke him up! He soon ran around though and looked soo pleased to see the animals.


A peacock (there were lots of them there)

Feeding the goats

One of several zebras

Emus

A wallaby (bit like a mini kangaroo) - we got to walk inside the fenced area with them in it, which was neat! This one was friendly and didn't leave until Benjamin rather followed him at a quick pace! He really likes kangaroos and kept saying "Kaarooo"! :)

Wallaby again, starting to hop away

Abigail with Sharon, Felicity & Heidi

Benjamin and a duck - he loved being able to run along after them - especially as they weren't very scared of him! Though he wasn't very impressed with the greedy geese that kept following him and honking!

Abigail & Felicity playing in the sand! It was lovely for Abigail to have a wee friend today that is of a similar age. It seems it's always far older children or little boys, so it's nice they got to spend time together. :)

....photos continued in post below

more photos from day out

Photos continued... Me & Abigail (tho a terrible photo of me!)

Sharon and her girls Felicity and Heidi

Benjamin with a wee pony

A stag

One of many Meerkats

A Racoon - see, I'm not the only Texan living in Scotland! LOL I love this pic - he looks so cute!

A Lemur, I think

My big boy Benjamin running along inside the wooden ship in the play barn

Abigail & Benjamin in the ship together

Yes, I'm still alive....

Seeing as 2 weeks have easily passed without me posting anything here, I was afraid this might go on for a very long time if I didn't at least say something! So here I am - for once with very few photos! My camera was nearly empty (for someone who usually posts a blog with 12-15 photos each time!) - this one only has 6! So yes, I have been busy - too busy to even snap some every day (or not so every day) photos.

By the way, I notice from my visitor counter on the side of my blog that I'm getting a fair few visits from Australia and Canada - as well as some from New Zealand (not to mention the fact that the UK is well over the USA total, in spite of the fact that I have more family in the USA! LOL) Yes, I know - my visitors are very few compared to some blogs I visit! But anyway, I'm just curious who might be reading! You should leave me a comment - doesn't have to be long - just say who you are! :-) Aren't I curious?!

Well, we had a busy couple of weeks. The weekend after Dad's wedding we had all 6 of my brothers and sisters come stay with us! It was lovely to have them all. It's the first time in several years that all 7 of us have been under the same roof. It's just a pity they couldn't stay longer. But I'm so glad Nathanael (Nat) brought them to our house - we really enjoyed it. It was a full, but happy house.

Last weekend we had Jett, Evelyn, Amelia & Aaron come for a weekend as it was the communion here at church. I managed out with the children a few times (including Lord's day morning) though I think Abigail was really exhausted afterwards - 3 hours is quite a long time for a 2 year old. We enjoyed having Jett, Evelyn & family staying with us - it's nice to have visitors staying, as we don't get them very often. (Btw, the triple bunk bed was wonderful to have for both weekends of people staying - well at least I hope it was OK, as it wasn't actually me sleeping on the bed! LOL) Abigail & Benjamin had lots of fun with the children too.

This photo was taken just as my brothers & sisters were about to leave. Please excuse the fact that I've got Benjamin by the neck of his clothes - he just wouldn't stay still for the photo! :) We've got this pic printed and in a frame in our dining room and everytime Benjamin sees it he says "All gone" and gets really sad! :( Or all you have to do is say "Uncle Nat" or "Auntie Leah" and he says the same "all gone" in a very sad way. I think he's really missing them. Don't know how he (or Abigail!) will feel once all their aunties & uncles are away across the Atlantic. Maybe I don't want to think about it either! :(

Here's Abigail and Benjamin with their shopping trolleys out in the square - they followed their aunties & uncles out to the car when they left!

Running with trolleys again!

Cooling off in the hot Scottish sunshine! :) Yes, it really has been hot recently - tho at the moment it's back to cool weather again! Just can't work out what season it's supposed to be!

A smiling Abigail, all ready for bed (tho maybe this was the evening she got ready for bed early after being in the paddling pool - and then wouldn't go to sleep after dinner!!!) Been struggling with bedtime a bit recently - especially Benjamin who keeps having late nights. Guess it's just requires lots of work and perseverence. :) Oh yes - can't possibly forget the patience (tho that is usually what one forgets in these circumstances) but I think it's the most important ingredient!

And last, but certainly not least, my precious little boy! He's such a darling - very sweet personality who loves to give his mummy lots of kisses and cuddles! He'll come up to me in the middle of the day and just wrap his arms around me, plant a few kisses on my face, and then run back to his toys or whatever he was playing with. :)

Well, I'm extra over tired at the moment - have had a twitch in my eye since last night and it didn't go away with me going to bed early last night either. So I think bed is needed a bit earlier than usual tonight too.