Another year nearly finished...

Well, we're nearly at the end of 2014 - this year seems to have gone by very quickly. I know the highlight of the year was the arrival of Fergus in late October - what a joy and blessing he has been in the short 2 months since he was born! :-) He is a very content little boy and it's so sweet to see the smiles he gives when his siblings come to talk to him - and plenty of "baby talk" or cooing to them too. I just love to see the bonding between a baby and their older siblings - such special times!

Here he is tonight - already 9 weeks old this past Saturday. And being a 6th child, I must admit that it's only tonight the box of baby toys was pulled down and he got something to "play with". [oops] But with a sibling always stopping by his pram to chat with him, show him what they're doing, etc (not to mention his mama talking to him lots all day long! :-D ), he doesn't much of a chance to be bored or lonely! But I think he will be interested in exploring these hanging toys.

"Helping" mummy with the laundry last week - 2 months old!

Also taken last week - Abigail was holding Fergus while I cooked breakfast. And from the kitchen I heard his little voice and looked to see him smiling and "talking" to Deborah. :-)

Photo from today - Elijah was helping me bake cookie, though I think he did more eating than baking! We made teddy bear and butterly shapes.

This was at nearly 6 weeks old

6 weeks old

6.5 weeks old

7.5 weeks old

Nearly 8 weeks old

Last week we spent a couple of days in Dingwall trying to sort through Peter's dad's house. He passed away back in June, but the summer was busy with the holiday house in Edderton, and then Fergus being born. Well, there was a gap between the last guests and his birth, but I started feeling unwell with raised blood pressure only 2 days after the final guests of the season left! :-P So yeah, with a busy year/summer and all, it means there's still a fair bit to sort out. Peter managed to clear out quite a lot from the bedrooms over the summer, but I hadn't been able to do much until now. So it was good to make a lot of progress last week - and hopefully we'll get back there again this week for another couple of days. Photo above shows the lounge - only the bookshelves left to sort through (and plenty of stuff for charity shop/dump etc - but at least it's in bags/boxes).

I figured the slower/quiet time of year and school holidays would make it the ideal time to devote some time & energy to sorting the house there. It's a bit of an adventure doing it with 6 kids hanging around (as seen above!) :-) but they took along jigsaws and loom bands, and drawing stuff, which kept them mostly occupied.

We had a bit of snow a few weeks ago, which the children enjoyed! It was only a thin layer, but they still made the most of it! :-)

Also a few/several weeks ago (before the snow), I was home with the youngest 4 while Peter took the oldest ones to the homeschool group. We'd been down with a nasty chesty cold and the younger ones (and myself) hadn't quite gotten over it. So I took the little ones out for a brief walk and some fresh air. It felt quite easy to have "only" 4 children to get organised in "winter gear"! :-) I don't get out for walks very often at all - it seems to take so long to get 6 kids ready, that by the time everyone is ready, there isn't time left for going out! LOL

Me looking full of a cold there - and Fergus very cosy in a sling (and with a warm poncho covering him).

Out for a walk and looking at the noisy small stream below.

Elijah wasn't feeling very well here - but still trying to smile!

Sooo, I guess that's all I have time for now! I sometimes think what I might write about when I finally sit down to update my blog, but time runs out! There's still laundry to finish doing, and floors to hoover - and it's already past 10pm! But I wanted to update this with some recent photos before 2014 was gone.

Wishing all my family and friends a very Happy and Blessed 2015! :-)