Overdue Update 1/3: Elijah walks, Elijah's 1st Birthday, etc (May and early June)

Usually when I fail to update my blog, I post one terribly long post with about 30 photos all in one go! Well, this time it seems I'm later than ever (perhaps it would be a good idea to just give up my neglected blog??) and I've not posted anything here since early May, which means over 2 months without a post. Each year my blog has fewer & fewer posts. I started in late 2007 and still had 22 posts. Then 2008 I posted 45 times! :-O 

By 2009 it dropped to 29 posts, then 2010 was only 22 and 2011 had 21 posts. 

But 2012 (when my 5th child was born) my poor blog only got 11 posts that year! Yes, long & full of photo ones, but not even one post a month. 

And looks like 2013 is going to be even worse - we're already half way through July, and only 4 posts this year. So maybe I should give up before it dies even more. :-/ But I feel a bit attached to it, as it's a bit of an online journal of what the kids are doing at different stages of their life, so for now, I'll try to revive it a bit - even if it's only for my own benefit. ;-) 

Soooo, I said all *that* to say, this time I'm going to update in 3 posts (I think) to cover the past couple of months. Hopefully easier than one lump posts with nothing but photos. Of course, anyone who is friends on Facebook or Google+ will realise that most of the photos here are rather dated (May and early June) but at least they're finally getting put on Blogger.

Back in May, at 11 months, Elijah decided it was time to walk - just like his biggest brother did at 11 months! :-) All the other children were at least a couple of months after their 1st birthday (and Abigail didn't walk until 16 months!!) but Elijah & Benjamin both walked at 11 months. My baby has grown up and is a toddler now - he's running about everywhere!

And here's Elijah on his birthday (4th of June), looking a bit bashful. He was actually a bit under the weather that day, so I didn't really get any wonderful photos of him - he just wasn't feeling well. :-/

Birthday presents and trying to figure out how it works! :-)

He loves to have a good laugh with this frog in a box - just his sort of thing!

Benjamin...

being Benjamin! ;-)

Clement

Biggest 4 playing dress-up - something the girls *love* to do, and they often manage to get their brother to join in too!

Adding a cup to the tower mummy built for him. A few days before, *all* he wanted to do was destroy any towers. But suddenly he realised it was fun to build them too.

Trying hard

He's such a sweet little boy and makes *all* of us smile and laugh MANY times a day! Such a joy! :-)

Abigail (ignore the messy hair! lol)

Now that I can walk, I'd like to run across the couch too! :-p

Having fun with Deborah

Full of life Deborah - she just never stops or slows down - lots of energy! :-)

Here she is (yes, lively again!) having fun on the trampoline with her best friend, Miriam!

It was so sweet seeing them together - and each of them saying the other was their best friend!

And then some quiet play together too. I enjoyed listening to them play, and making the animals talk to each other, etc. ;-)

So, that's the end of my 1st blog update. I think I need to do 2 more to catch up, so we'll see how many days (err weeks - I hope not!) until I get the others done.

Clement's 4th Birthday and other ordinary days

Can it already be May? The days, weeks, and months just fly by faster than I can imagine. I know time doesn't move faster than it did before, ;-) but it sure feels like it! I guess that's just what life is like with so many little ones to look after! But, life is good! :) Having 5 healthy & energetic children who needs lots of food to eat, and make lots of messes to clear up, and "hungry" brains to learn new things, is all a wonderful blessing. It can be too easy to think only on the work part of it (and don't get me wrong, I *do* enjoy the quiet once they've gone to bed in the evening!). But when I think of so many who have lost a dear child, or have a child with serious disability or health condition that means they don't know if that child will wake up the next morning, it helps me to have joy and a smile when one of my dear children comes through to my bedroom at 6am with a cheery "Hi Mummy" or "It's morning time, mummy!". :-D How many parents would give everything in the world to have that again! So yes, my life is full of blessings.

And one of them is right here! :-) I love to see her with this doll (which happens to be her favourite too!) because I had a doll just the same when I was her age! It was my favourite too! :-) Deborah loves to play with dolls and spends a lot of time everyday being a little mother to her "babies".

Deborah again

On the 11th of April, Clement turned 4! (which shows just how long it's taken me to get round to blogging!)

A Lego sticker book!

His rather wonky birthday cake. But all he cared about was the Lego men on top! :-P

Opening a present! :)

The *much* wanted "Chase McCain" Lego set! The boys had been playing a game or video of this on the Lego website and really wanted a minifigure known as Chase McCain, which this set has. So he was very pleased!

More Lego!

Birthday boy & cake!

Lego for Benjamin

Deborah got a sticker book too!

Me and the younger 4 children - on a nature walk up the hill from our house! :)

The lovely view from down the road!

All 5 of my children! (Btw, Benjamin only sat in the pushchair for the photo - he doesn't ride in it at other times.) ;-)

Knight Elijah! I found him with a cape and sword - I think his biggest sister was dressing him up! lol

All spread out (but still enjoying each other's company!) - the kids really love all the extra space with having the extension.

Doctor Abigail and Nurse Deborah! :-)

He must be Texan (oh, and a bit Mexican too!) - he *loves* a bowl of chili!

Looks like Super Elijah here!

In early April we went to Inverness Museum to see a fantastic exhibition about ancient Egypt, complete with a real mummy! Of course, can't take photos in the museum, but we had lunch and spent the afternoon in a nearby park afterwards! :) A few other families from our homeschool group had joined us and we had a lovely time. As you can see above, Elijah enjoyed the swing!

And Deborah too!

The boys had fun climbing inside a large hedge and coming up to the top!

On top the hedge! :-P

Abigail and her friend Rebekah with other random girls at the park.

Boys in the hedge again

Elijah in a lovely Tots Bots cloth nappy! Towards the end of April was "Real Nappy Week", which I hadn't realised was started as far back as 17 years ago! Anyway, the idea is to spread the news about cloth nappies and get more people using them! So there's always lots of great offers on that week, companies giving away nappies to get people to try them, etc. So thought it was a good time to get a photo of Elijah in one. I first discovered Tots Bots brand (made in Glasgow, Scotland!) when Benjamin was a baby 6 years ago. I've tried lots & lots & lots of brands over the years, but always go back to Tots Bots and think they really are the best!

Cloth nappies drying outside in the sun! Though today looks nothing like this (dark & wet!) so nappies are drying indoors today.

A few weeks ago Peter took Deborah & Clement along to a nearby "woodlands toddler group". They had lots of fun going on a nature trail in the forest.

Never too young to help mama! ;-) He *loves* to put things in & out of buckets/boxes/tubs and actually put 2/3 of the load into the drier for me!

All 3 boys at the computer - on the Lego website, of course!

Hardly a baby when he's riding his sister's wee bike! He's growing up so fast. Hard to believe just one more month, and he'll be a year old!

Last, but certainly not least, we got a *lovely* surprise visit from my brother Josh in mid April!! The doorbell rang and this is what I found at my door!!! I had no idea he was in the UK and he came up north just to see us - for 2 nights. It was so good to see him again! :-)