I'm finally getting round to updating this!
Earlier in November was Abigail's birthday - it feels hard to believe I have an 8 year old daughter now! :-) The years pass so quickly - before I know it, she'll be a teenager. Abigail is such a delightful daughter and a real blessing - I look forward to having an older daughter as a friend - there's something special about that mother-daughter bond! She is very keen (and indeed a natural) when it comes to sewing and cooking - things I loved when I was a girl, so it's great fun to see her having similar interests as I had.
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| The night before her birthday (or more likely, the wee hours of the morning when I needed to be in bed! lol). We rather have a tradition in our house of having the birthday presents (and plenty of balloons too!) all out for first thing in the morning. I probably did it when she was 3 or 4 years old, and now they all expect it to look something like this when they wake up! ;-) |
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| A sewing kit for making a soft cat |
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| A necklace from her mama |
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| Elijah got a book that makes lots of animal sounds. |
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| I bought a box from Lidl and filled it with lots of ribbon, lace, thread, buttons, etc - she was delighted! :-) |
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| King Benjamin! :-P He doesn't even realise I'm taking his photo - too busy with looking at his new book. I think it was Abigail's idea that they needed to dress up for her birthday. She's wearing her red Chinese dress over her clothes and Benjamin came downstairs with crown & cape! |
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| Happy birthday girl! |
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| Thinking ... as Elijah does ... lots of it! |
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| Birthday lunch |
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| Cake with friends in the afternoon |
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| Birthday cupcakes |
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| Blowing out 8 candles - with her best friend, Rebekah with her. |
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| Elijah and ALL the food he removed from my kitchen cupboard! :-P I *did* stack it up, but that's just to keep it from crashing down on him. He thought he was helping me! ;-) It started when he tried to open a box of tea, so I put them up on the worktop - out of his reach. So before I realised it, he was taking everything out, and saying "thank you" etc - as if I wanted everything up there. Of course, when you're busy cooking dinner, a lot of things get allowed, as long as you know they're safe and nothing is being destroyed! ;-) At least the cupboard got cleared out and organised - once he was in bed! |
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| I found this in my kitchen a few weeks ago! ;)
Elijah had spilled some water on the couch and (without being asked) he
fetched a towel from the drawer to clear up his mess. I guess when he
came back in the kitchen afterwards, a drawer full of kitchen towels
looked very cosy, so he snuggled down! Then he started saying "night, night"! |
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| He's obsessed with the new vacuum cleaner - like majorly attached to it and doesn't want to leave it alone. So I'm always tripping over it, as he *must* have it in the middle of the floor all day long, and takes it from one end of the house to the other! |
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| He does like to climb, and really wishes he was taller. I thought this was too cute not to capture - standing on a measuring jug! :-) |
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| Or the kid's Ikea table to reach the microwave. This got moved upstairs, as it was too easy for him to carry around the house! |
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| And sometimes he's really helpful in a useful way - like this here. The Asda weekly shop had arrived and he promptly started taking things out of the bag and putting them in their proper place! :-) |
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| The smallest table from the nest of tables in the lounge is ideal for his purposes too! |
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| We finally had our first snow this season - only a thin covering though. |
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| The children were out before breakfast, just in case it didn't last very long. It was gone the next day, so at least they had a bit of fun. |
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| Invaded by Vikings - scary! After learning about Vikings in history, we had fun making some helmet masks. |
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| Elijah being a Viking too - in the middle of dinner, complete with messy face & hands! :-P |
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| Homeschool group, learning about the origins of Thanksgiving Day in USA. Here they were making a thankfulness tree and writing things on the leaves that they were thankful for. |
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| Making Indian headdresses. |
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| Indians! |
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| The kids had a practice go at home, making Indian headdresses. |
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| Deborah is always full of life - and words too! She's quite an independent girl and such a character! This afternoon she told me "I like to always be right. You're not allowed to be right!" And yes, I'd already gathered that was how she felt about herself. :-P She always wants to have the last word, be in charge. If she's told to do something, that's the best reason why she *shouldn't* do it - simply because someone else thinks she should do it, etc. She is *always* thinking, always reasoning, always arguing, and her words just flow and flow - she is just SO able with words, always has an answer for everything - before you even speak, she seems to know what she's going to say in reply. Talking is a major feature of her life, and she's never silent - unless she's asleep! ;-) |
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| Abigail looking quite the Indian! |
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| Clement trying to look fierce |
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| My boys, in the garden yesterday afternoon. Yes, there's very little of afternoon before it gets dark. |
