Easter 2014

I love the Easter holidays, flowers blooming, sunny days and Easter. On Good Friday he always make our fish pies, this time Ismay did them practically all by herself. We decorate our Easter tree and reflect on what we are grateful for.

On Easter morning after Church, the children made their own Easter baskets and then went on an egg hunt around the garden. We had a traditional dinner of lamb which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Visit to the Howletts - March 2014

Unfortunately I fell at work. This necessitated a trip to the hospital, crutches, morphine and a whole host of other delightful drugs. Needless to say, this combination sent me a little bit loopy and the past couple of months have been a bit of a blur what with the drugs and the pain!

I was having difficulty with the school run with crutches, so I asked my head teacher if it would be ok to take the children to Jordan's. Both Clare and Jordan were amazing at letting me rest! waiting on me hand and foot and looking after the kids so I could rest. I am so grateful to have a brother and sisters who are willing to look after me at a moments notice.

Visit to Dorset - April 2014

During the holidays, we spent a few days with the Duerdoths. It was lovely to spend time as sisters with Celestria, especially as we were so worried about Beth and feeling helpless. Being together enabled us to be distracted and bring comfort to each other.

The car journey can only be described as "hellish", any parent of one or more children will know what I mean after 5 hours of travelling!!

Nonetheless, it was thoroughly worth it. Here is a summary of our stay in video.

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Sleep over - March 2014

As Eden is the "baby" of the family, he seems to love the role of "big boy" when playing with younger children. He absolutely adores his friend A with whom he has shared a love borderline obsession with Thomas the tank and Toy Story for several years. I love watching him show A how to play with his toys and generally just looking after him.  This weekend A and his little sister M came for a sleepover.

These children are so cute and Mia and Ismay treat her like a life size dolly.

In the morning, the children love eating breakfast together. Mia made us laugh when she was brushing M's hair she said "oooooohhh, your hair is so soft and silky, how do you get it like that?". Having grown up in some pretty cramped conditions,  I always dreamed of owning a house that was big enough for the children to have their friends over. I am so grateful that they are able to have these moments with their friends and that we can accommodate them.

Gardening - Spring 2014

We are typical Brits; as soon as there is a modicum of sunlight we don flip flops, summer clothes and go outside. Today was the first real sunny day we've had this year, so as soon as I'd finished work I took the children to the park and then organised for them to do some planting.

The girls at the moment are going through a fashion conscious stage and don't like getting dirty, so after a while it just ended up being me and Eden. Because of my back, it is quite difficult to bend so Eden did very well in doing the planting by himself whilst I instructed him. I love how he rolled up his trousers by himself, my littl. Huckleberry Finn.

I love spring and I love the flowers in our garden. At the moment we have primroses, daffodils, snow drops, grape forsythia, Christmas roses and herbs flowering. 

The children making tea - April 5th April 2014

The children have always loved helping me make dinner. When Mia was smaller, I used to sit her on the kitchen counter and she would "help" in whatever way she could. This is how my Daddy taught me how to cook, he would let me help him. One of my earliest memories is of him kneading dough on our wooden kitchen table in Essex.

Tonight the children wanted to prepare dinner by themselves so I decided to bite the bullet, hold back on my OCD tendencies and let them do it.  Here they are preparing a salad. I love the way that Eden has chucked in a stalk of celery without chopping it up! (This was soon rectified by his bossy sisters).

The girls made their own pizzas and chose the toppings to go on them. It was all very delicious.

Howlett weekend Visit - April 2014

We had a visit from the Howlett Jnrs (minus Clare who was on a girlie weekend) which was lovely. The children love their cousins, and Jarom and Eden, being the only boys of the family really appreciate their time together. They are so boisterous, and love dressing up, playing Lego,dinosaurs, Toy Story, Star Wars and any number of permeatations of the above. I turned my back for five minutes to discover they had found my wool and were using to make webs. I have to say that I was quote impressed by their ingenuity and imagination in spite of them helping themselves to mummy's things without asking.

By contrast, the girls love to draw, write, read and craft. They literally did this for hours.

We decided to make the most of the day by taking the kids to Attingham Park. The men prepared the pic nic whilst I supervised the kids. They seemed to have a good system going; akin to a smooth operating factory line!  We had an hilarious incident with an Ikea bag (probably one of those "had to be there" moments). Jason asked me what he should put the food in and I told him to use one of the reusable shopping bags I had bought from IKEA recently. I came down to find him using the HUGE blue one instead of the normal sized ones. As I type I realise this may not amuse many, but for us it highlighted the fact that women and men think so differently. It illustrated the point that whilst we may think we communicate clearly, our words can be interpreted otherwise! 

I love this picture of the boys in their PJs. The girls are not very cuddly, but these two adorable little ones always give me big squeezes.

Poor Jordan is the only boy in our family. Whilst his sisters may be pains in the backside some of the time, we do like to pride ourselves in the knowledge that we "prepared" him for being a good husband. ("Rubbish" duty in a certain place Jordan?????!!! You know what I mean!)

In spite of the inclement weather, we persevered with our pic nic and the kids ran around, throwing their coats off without a care in the world.

Ismays Birthday - Jan 2014

Our sweet little Ismay turned 7 in January. I can hardly belive that those years have gone by already. She continues to astonish us with her capacity to retain information and her ability to interpret the world around her. We let her have a tea party with her friends.

Jason and I have a tradition of decorating the house once the children are in bed, a habit picked up from the Howlett side. Jason blows up the balloons and I decorate and set up the presents. In the morning, we all go down together and see if the birthday fairy has been.

When she got home from school, she found the table laid with the traditional party regalia.

The children enjoyed some traditional party games: pass the parcel, musical statues.

Then it was time to open presents,  Ismay was so polite saying "oh, it's so wonderful" once she'd opened them.

Ismay is really into her music at the moment.  She wanted a very specific play list which she insisted on playing throughout the party. She particularly likes a band called One Direction.

Ismay really enjoyed being with her friends. She is a sociable little girl and is very popular with her classmates. She is also incredibly independent. 

Winter Valentines trip to the Seaside - February 2014

On Tuesday 11th February I fell at work which necessitated me needing crutches to walk for a few weeks. We decided to take advantage of me needing to rest by going down to stay with Nanah and Grandpa so Mummy could rest and Nanah and Grandpa could help look after the girls and Eden.

Whilst we were at Nanah and Grandpa's Daddy and grandpa looked after the children and grandpa, who makes Ukeleles, got to to show the children his work shop. It was lovely to see the children enjoying being with their grandparents and seeing them strengthen the bond they share.

Whilst at Nanah and grandpas, the children enjoyed playing the Ukelele. It was the first time he had been to Nanah and grandpas new house and it was just lovely seeing them so settled in their surroundings.

On one of the mornings we went out for breakfast. Nanah and grandpa had the dubious pleasure of sitting with the children and mummy and daddy enjoyed a child free breakfast.

Of course, as Howlett tradition dictates, a visit to the beach was necessary (even in the gale force wind conditions). I think they lasted five minutes before they rushed back to the car.

Even though the Howlett family are scattered far and wide, we still feel those bonds of love whenever we get together. What a blessing it is to have a loving family. We love you all.