Standing for something.

I took the children to see the new Cinderella film. Whilst it was all very enchanting and lovely, the children and I really took away the message of the film: have courage and be kind. We decided to add this as an addendum to our original family moto taken from Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

This moto has brought us much comfort throughout our married life as we have navigated challenges, decisions and waited for prayers to be answered. (In some cases ten years).

I was touched that the children identified the film's moto: have courage and be kind as something they wanted to include in our family life. We talked about what this means to us and Ismay said that we should not be afraid to try new things. Mia said she wanted us to help one person each month as a family. Eden suggested that we use kind voices. I suggested we take all of their ideas and work together as a family to make that an intrinsic part of who we are.

We decided to make this moto into a sign and place it on the fireplace as a constant reminder for us.

While the Daddy is away, the children will play!

Daddy had to go away for work this week so we tried to keep as busy as possible so we didn't miss him too much.  We went to the cinema to see Cinderella, which the children were mesmerised by.

When we came out from watching the film we found it was the Avengers premier that same evening so Eden wanted his photo taken by this model.

Mia had to go to the dentist to have her first treatment, a sort of filling in her tooth (not a proper one). I picked her up from school after lunch and we played songs in the car on the way there.  She was very excited and loved wearing the safety goggles.

Next, we went to Chetwyn deer park in Newport for the last cross country race. Ismay came 7th, the course was harder and longer this time around and both girls got worn out.

Next, we went to the Kimbers for a sleepover so that Mummy and Daddy Kimber could go out to see a comedian.

All of the children were very good and went to sleep beautifully.  The next day we woke up and drove to school. My kids kept asking me: "Are we going to be late mummy?", but we arrived just in time.

Here comes the summer term....

So the holidays flew by, and before we knew it it was time to go back to school. 

We had our first BBQ of the year before we went back to school and caught up with conference. The children had been so disappointed when we were unable to watch it on holiday (Eden said, but we won't get to eat our conference sweets; a tradition whereby we choose key words for the children to listen out for and write these on bits of card attached to a bowl of sweets so when they hear the word they get a sweet) so they took it upon themselves to make the sweetie bowls as the. FHE treat.

Eden wanted to sleep in Mia's bed. I love this cute photo, Eden protecting his sister.

On Sunny evenings, Jason has been taking the children to the park on their bikes. They really love playing outside on their bikes now the evenings are getting lighter.

Before we went away, cousin Ethan came for a sleepover. Eden requested that cousin. Lucas have a turn on Saturday. They were very good and went to sleep very well.

The next morning they arose at the crack of dawn, eager to get ready for church. They both wanted to wear exactly the same things, so Jason raided his tie collection to find a matching tie for Eden.

Jason borrowed some guns from a friend for a youth activity and we needed to return them so we put them in the car, the boys couldn't resist posing with them.

We have sisters again in the ward and we had them over for dinner. Sister Arias is from Spain.

We then had the lovely Davies family over for dinner. It's great to be able to socialise again now that I'm feeling better.

Alice is such a star and my girls absolutely love her.  They played with their dolls houses with her.

Messing about in boats

Daddy discovered that he loves boats after a wander around the port in Cap d'Adge. We wandered into the boat yard and watched as he peered excitedly through the port holes of the many boats awaiting attention.    So much so that he spent much of the night researching boat ownership. In the morning however, having balanced all the pros and cons, he came to the conclusion  that it would be far more cost effective to hire one. So we did just that. Daddy was a natural and we all enjoyed a lovely time being "driven" around the port by Daddy.

Our first "proper" holiday in our little place in the Cap

So after last time in the villa being taken over by painting and shopping we were really looking forward to this time.  Our first time to just visit our little pied a Terre and relax.

First step was to celebrate Easter. Our friends Anne-Isabelle and Jerome and his two children came on Easter Sunday. Whilst the daddies took the children for a walk, the ladies prepared a four course meal of foie gras, quail egg salad, four bird roast and lemons cake. (All achieved in an oven the size of a microwave!!). When everything was ready, the Easter bells came a left eggs for the children in the garden according to French tradition and the children all did a hunt for them.

We spent everyday on the beach enjoying the sunshine and also took the children to the beach park, on walks up the dormant volcano and played tennis.

We also treated them all to a date night each. Daddy took Mia and Ismay out separately for ice cream and a chat and mummy had the pleasure of taking Eden. We each learned something new about the children. For example, Eden's ambition is to work in Game (a video game shop) in the town centre when he grows up!!!!!!

We also had a lovely visit from the Lelongs who brought with them a delicious dessert. feel so so blessed to have had such a lovely time together and can't wait to go back again soon.

Investigating the digestive system

As the children become more and more fascinated with the body and how things work, I have decided to embrace this and use their curiosity for teaching moments.

After a year of witnessing all my various digestive problems, they have been naturally curious about the digestive system, so I decided to capitalise on this by allowing them to perform an experiment to demonstrate how food is digested.

Ismay of course lectured us on the digestive system and all its functions prior to this!

We got on old pair of tights and cut off one of the legs. This was to represent the large intestine.

We then "fed" in some bread, oats and water.

The children then squeezed really hard all alone the length of our "intestine" replicating the muscles and stomach acid action that is used to break down food.

We found that some stuff came out as seen in the blue bowl representing all the good stuff our body needs to absorb to keep itself healthy.

Of course, all the waste came out the end of the intestine into the white bowl.

Ismay spent many hours moulding said waste material so it more accurately represented poo. Possibly the part of the experiment she enjoyed the most!!