Here I am again, finally updating my blog! One of these days (not!) I'll be more organised and do more frequent posts, rather than the occasional overload of photos all at once! :-P But for now, here's a mega dose of photos and I'll include 2 links to Facebook albums with MORE photos (a virtual trip to the north coast of Scotland where we went to Durness and saw Smoo Cave, and another album of the work begun on our extension - a new sitting room!)
Earlier this month (13th of October) was Deborah's 2nd birthday. She talks *so* fluently (and sooooooooooo much) that it seems unreal that she's only just 2 - more like 3 going on 4! But yes, she's only just turned 2. :-) I always thought Benjamin was very advanced with his speech when he was little (and he was) but Deborah tries to use as many words as possible for everything she says. When a word or two could quite easily suit the situation (and most children would only use a couple) she uses a whole sentence - or two! For example, Clement would probably just say "it's dark" when he goes upstairs and there are no lights on. But Deborah says "It's a little bit dark up there." It's quite funny really, though sometimes my head could do with a bit of quiet so I can think! ;-) The other day when she was talking too much (or too loudly) and was told "shh" she replied (very indignantly) "I was *just* wanting to talk!" (like duh! what's wrong with that?). I had to burst out laughing! ;-) She also likes to do everyone else's jobs and will get angry if she's not allowed to put things in the rubbish for someone else, or wipe up spills - sometimes she even thinks she should be doing the cooking(!), changing nappies, etc. Anger management is *not* her strong point. :-/ But she is still a very sweet girl who loves to do things for others and *always* ready to give a hug and say sorry, *even* when she didn't cause the wrong! If she sees Clement upset or crying she'll say "I need to give Clement a hug" and run to embrace him. And when it comes to helping out with jobs around the house, she doesn't really need to be taught. She sees something done once, and instantly she knows how to do it (like I found her putting dirty laundry into the washing machine for me and she took the pairs of socks apart and opened them all up before putting them in - without even being told to do it! I think by the time she's 10 or 12 she'll be running the house for me! ;-) So yeah, that's a bit about our 2 year old! Here are some photos from her birthday.
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| Opening presents! |
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| A lovely doll that her Aunty Leah made for her! |
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| King Benjamin! (dressing up for Deborah's birthday) |
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| All dressed up - except the birthday girl! She had new dressing up clothes too (as seen in a photo below) but refused to wear them at first. |
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| A dolls house! |
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| Fun with presents - and holding her doll in her lap at the same time! :) |
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| Here's the birthday princess! :) |
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| and her cake! I cheated and bought sugar decorations off the internet, as I had a busy Saturday (guests leaving the holiday house, etc) so needed something quick & simple to make. |
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| Pleased with her cake - success! :) |
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| Elijah, who will soon be 5 months old! He's getting so big and will be over 17lbs by now (as he was nearly 17lb when weighed by the health visitor a few weeks ago). He's so delightful and cuddly and you can't help but smile back at his lovely smile! (or so I think anyway!) |
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| This is him nearly a month ago (so just before he was 4 months old) - he's already changed so much in looks from here, but a cute photo! |
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| A few weeks ago we decided to have a walk in a nearby forest, which is just down the road from us. The weather was a bit cold, but not enough for coats and mittens yet, so was really lovely. We took along a book about what's happening in nature (around the world) in October (we have a whole series of books for each month of the year - published by Orpheus Books) and there's an "I spy" list at the back of the book for things like mushrooms/fungi, falling leaves, nibbled acorns, freshly dug burrows, etc and the children really enjoyed looking for things in the list. Benjamin who has not really been enjoying the outdoors lately actually had fun, so was brilliant. The fact that we were going on a "treasure hunt" focused him on something positive, rather than worrying about any of his phobias or sensory issues. I'm looking forward to the November book next week and we'll have to plan another nature walk. |
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| Biggest 4 on the nature walk. |
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| Me and my 5. Yes, Elijah is here - in a sling and hiding under my poncho to keep him warm. He loved looking at trees and other things along the way and then finally fell asleep and napped for part of the walk. |
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| We had some guests staying in our holiday house a few weeks ago and it was a beautiful day with lovely sunshine when I was making up the beds. I decided to take a photo of the sun coming in the window! ;-) |
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| I don't remember what the noise was, but my boys are wearing their ear defenders while jumping on the trampoline here! :-) We moved it to the back garden while the work is being done for the extension out front. So the kids have all their toys, bikes, playhouse, and trampoline out the back, which seems more ideal - except that the sun doesn't really reach the back garden during the winter. :-/ Speaking of the extension, here are some photos of the first day of work! Our friend Andrew (who is doing the work) let the children sit in the digger, which they found *very* exciting. We now have concrete in the trenches and the next step is for the blocks to come to build the foundation. It will be really nice to have a new/bigger sitting room and more living space downstairs (where we spend most of our time anyway). https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151446210499256.580928.719584255&type=1&l=405b2a0b9c | | | |
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| There were 3 in the bed and the little one said, "This is fun!" :-) |
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| Deborah's "big girl bed" (the bottom bunk in Abigail's room). She's very excited about having her own space - though I've been rather forgetful and she's not slept in it yet! [oops] I always put her to sleep in my own bed and then just move her to the cot (also in our room) at night and need to get organised enough to put her into her own bed now. |
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| Elijah is excited to find a box of Lego next to him! |
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| The children found a few flags in a cupboard (bought last year after some Royal event when they were reduced in Morrisons for 10p LOL) and gave one to Elijah. He was actually waving it and looked very cute but by the time I got the camera he had stopped. |
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| Some "paper plate snails" that the kids made at our homeschool group last month. I was trying to dream up an idea at the last minute for a craft and an online friend suggested paper plate crafts and I then found this idea online! The kids seemed to enjoy it and glueing pieces of tissue paper was something all ages could easily do. |
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| Some of the kids from our homeschool group visiting the Raigmore Stone Circle. The stones have been relocated from their original ancient location nearby (when a road was put in). My children have been fascinated with standing stones and stone circles, etc ever since we learned about Stonehenge in The Mystery of History last year. I'm not sure the other children in our homeschool group are very interested in stones (LOL) but my children had been wanting to go see them for months and finally got there this week! A couple of weeks ago we had an afternoon trip up to the north coast of Scotland. We went to Durness and visited Smoo cave - the largest sea cave in Britain. I decided to take photos as we drove along, so if anyone would like to have a virtual trip to the north coast of Scotland, you can see photos at this link here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151439837549256.579780.719584255&type=1&l=f09c3604bd |
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| A lovely jumper that my friend Naomi knitted for Elijah! :-) |
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| Benjamin wanted his photo taken with his certificate to say he had completed the Primer level of Math-u-See! We started it last year (before he was school age) and finished it in the first month of him being officially "school age". We're now on to Alpha level, though Benjamin is finding it rather too simple. I'm yet to sort out how to give him work that isn't difficult enough to be frustrating, yet challenging enough to be fun! |
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| Look at me trying to sit up! ;-) This was just before he was 4 months old. |
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| Abigail and her baby brother |
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| Dressed for winter! It was really cold last week and today brought snow! brrr | |
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| My new pushchair! ;-) The amazing Mountain Buggy Duet! I've been interested in this buggy since it was first launched a little over a year ago (I think). But the price tag was rather high and being a new thing, no bargains to be found secondhand. But last week I found their official stockist selling a slight second (but brand new) model on eBay at a very good price. It was their 3rd to list (tho I didn't notice the others) and they went within hours of listing, so I snapped this one up. It's *really* impressive - the narrowest side-by-side double *ever* - the same width as a single buggy! It really is amazing, so easy to push, and will take a buggy board so Clement can tag along with the youngest 2 in seats. (Tho he's trying out the seat in the photo above.) |
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| Deborah and Elijah in the seats - and Benjamin had to give a cheeky grin in both photos! |
