Four

My youngest is now four. He should have started school today but he won't be going until after Christmas as we don't think he is ready yet. We would have liked him to start school next academic year but the rules won't allow it. Here are some photo's of his birthday celebrations:

Still 3...
Poised for present opening.
young man...
Breakfast waffles and cards.
Burger for lunch.
Hmmm. Cake.

Back to school

Our eldest is back to school. How time flies. She has so much to learn about stuff and so many experiences to have. I hope we can help her grow up to be a lovely adult who can realize her potential.

Peak District

We've had a fantastic week relaxing in the Peak District. Here are a few photo's:

The view from our bedroom. (Photographs stitched with hugin.)
Reflecting at the JCB factory.
Sitting on the patio with my beautiful wife.
Pedaling furiously at Gulliver's Kingdom.
Our eldest climbing muddy rocks.
A big hole.

White

I thought I would have a bit of a blog redesign. But as I can't think of a good design I'm going for just plain white.

Joker

Perhaps we shouldn't have gone to see the The Dark Knight.

Pigeon Disaster

On waking from returning late from New Wine I discovered that there was a fair bit of soot that had fallen down our chimney. On further investigation it transpired that there was a pigeon within the pile. On closer inspection the pigeon moved.

After a bit of thought and with the use of a large but old sheet I relocated the fire grate and pigeon to the garden where it flapped off to the bench in a kind of wonky and half hearted manner. We tried to provide the bird with water and seed but, sadly, it died later that day. Polly, as our eldest named her (for it is a she on account of the egg we found with her) is now buried in our garden. The head stone is still being worked on.

The egg in the de-sooted fireplace. now buried with its mum.

Polly, in shock, shortly before she died. At least we saved her from being savaged by a cat or dieing covered in soot. Hopefully our eldest will fulfill her ambition to be a vet so we will know the best course of action in future. Or even more hopefully it won't happen again.

New Wine 2008 - Kingdom Come

We went this year to New Wine again - after two years break due to fears that camping and a 1/2 year old would not be a good mix. We had a great time - spent time with friends from church, made new friends and enjoyed watching the children have a great time. As usual we went to Bath on our "day off" and to Castle Cary for lunch at the Old Bakehouse. Happy days!

Sharing desert at the old Bakehouse.
Breakfast in the Gazebo.
Up to no good by the lake.
Big bowl of chips.

Trampolining.
Big bowl of bubbles.
Bed time.
Calling for service.
Pig in Bath.

Honeybrook Farm

After seeing photo's on my parent's neighbour's Flickr page we decided to try out Honeybrook Farm.

A day at the beach

We went for a day at the beach. Lots of sun and sand.

The Planes, the Planes!

We have had a great day at the Farnborough Airshow. It was an especially good day as a friend of my wife got is tickets to her companies corporate hospitality day. This was in a fantastic venue with clean toilets and free food and drink. We got to see the red arrows and the new airbus 380 before our youngest's ears gave out. (He was very scared of the noise and spent a lot of time with his hands over his ears!) Here are some photos:

Holidays

We are off on our first summer holiday - starting tomorrow with a day at the Farnborough airshow. I am quite looking forward to it. I'm just a bit worried about getting all our stuff in our (admittedly capacious) car.

Rhianna

Sad news - Rhianna the little girl that my sister-in-law forstered has died. We remember her happy smile and her love of music. We remember how small she was compared to our youngest. We pray that her creator has taken her to a place where she can be well and forever happy.

My Eldest Was An Animal

She was acting and singing in her school production. It was Toad of Toad hall and the quality was very good. It was great to see her singing and performing so enthusiastically and confidently. Unfortunately due to restrictions at the venue we have no photos at this time.

You've been framed

Tree Boy

Both my children love climding trees. Here's our youngest in our silver birch.

Tutor Master Services Goes Online

My Eldest's Godfather now has a website to showcase the work he does. You can find it at: http://www.tutormaster-services.co.uk/. He also has published two books that anyone who wants inspiration and help with writing stories and the teaching of this skill will find invaluable.

Going, going, gone?

It looks like our noisy neighbours have finally gone. Along with their doors, radiators, kitchen and anything that was not screwed down and a good few things that were.

It is finished!

Yes. The loft hatch is now finished:

(You may remember when I started and fitted it.)

Eldest's Bedroom

Before I started the glossathon that is our hall I decorated our eldest's bedroom. Here is a photo before we put all her tat back in it.

MOT and gloss

Today we got our car MOT'd (hooray) and have glossed much of the woodwork in the hall and landing. We really know how to have fun on holiday!

Broken Stuff

In the last few weeks we have had loads of things break. The dishwasher, washing machine and how the computer! We also need to get our old car MOT'd but someone has taken the wing mirror glass and our youngest pulled the rear wiper blade off in a fit of rage. Yesterday we found that the washing machine (now fixed) was leaking all over the floor due to a blocked pipe.
I do feel like going AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
But I want to echo Habakkuk instead.

Snow Day!

At last sledging. Shame all the snow is now gone. Here is my eldest (bottom left) and my youngest (the dot top right).

We even made an igloo (of sorts).

Big Boot

We've found we can get a sofa in our new car.

Lambtastic

Our eldest feeding a lamb at my brother and sister-in-law's neighbour's farm. We nearly got to see one being born. But it didn't come out in time.

Busy Month

March has been a busy month. My job has had me whizzing around the country upgrading customers to the latest version of software for changes that need to be implemented imminently. Examples of places I have had the pleasure of being are: Rotherham, Wakefield, Halifax, Leeds, Manchester, Havant, Redhill and Blackburn. We also managed to fit in a visit to a friend near Bolton and my brother and his wife near Wrexham. Phew.

As part of this experience I have stayed in many Premier Inns. (I am disappointed to note that the plastic duck shown in the adverts is not supplied). This is weird as although all the hotels are in different places the rooms are generally nearly identical - causing confusion on waking.

New Camera - Smile

The camera to replace the one that has been stolen has finally arrived. It's quite nice - a bit smaller than the old one and with a few more features. One such is a feature where the camera will wait until people smile before it takes a photo. Why?

Bop It

I got 47 (or was it 44) on bop it earlier this week. Beat that!

Chicken Counting and Frying Pans

It seems, from the frantic packing, that our neighbours may be moving. These neighbours have been the bane of our lives for years with their noisy disregard of us. We are just praying that the replacement neighbours are better than this and we are not out of the frying pan and into the fire.

New Car

We've had our new car for over a week now and I still look forward to going for a drive in it. It's shiny, clean, has slidy doors and is really nice to drive. It's a Mazda-5 and like it lots. I'll post a picture when I get around to taking one.

Museum Trip

We went to the science and natural history museums. We drove down and parked in Imperial college behind the museum, took sandwiches and had a great day.

Spot the Baby

We were playing with TuxPaint (a fantastic, easy to use, drawing program for children) and made a stamp of a photo of our youngest and this is the result:

Budding Architect

Our eldest made this house out of paper and sellotape. I think it is amazing.

Mind you, it explains why we never have any sellotape when we want some. She also has been chosen as this term's class representative on the school council - which makes us pleased and proud. Both because it seems to have given her a boost and because it shows that she is popular with her peers.

Facial lesions

Our eldest really should exfoiliate more often.

Amazing bible facts.

Amazing bible fact: China - the world's biggest supplier of bibles!

All ages

We had a service at church today to which all the different age groups went. Normally anyone under the age of 18 is off doing fun things relevant to their age group whilst the adults stay in their own group in the main hall. The service was good but our children are not used to sitting in that environment for that long and so were quite fidgety towards the end. It's hard to know what the solution is. Do we make these services so child friendly that they stop being relevant to the adults that come, do those with children stop going so that their lives are made easier or do we persevere and help our children learn the invaluable life skill of listening, or at least appearing to be listening, or at least not stopping anyone else from listening?

Personally I think the perseverance approach might be the best or we may well end up with a generation of people who only go to church because it entertains them and not to worship God.

Shopping

We went shopping today. It was great.

No Snow

Well yesterday was a bit disappointing. The weather forecast people had been warning of snow. But did any land near us? NO! I thought that I might finally have had a use for my embarrassingly large car. Perhaps later in the month...

Here is a picture of my car in the snow that fell last year (when none was forecast):

Slight Nausea

First day back at work this year and I have slight nausea. I'm not sure if I have a mild form of the norovirus but if I have I'll know when all my colleagues report back from a weekend spent on the loo. I don't think it is from over indulging, I did indulge over Christmas but I don't think I over indulged.

Last Day

It's the last day of the holidays today. It has been fantastic to spend time off with my wife and children. Especially at this time of year when there are presents to open, dvds to watch, food to eat and decorations to take our minds off the long cold nights

First Day

The first day of the new year. What will this year hold? Will our noisy, defrauding neighbours finally move? Will we manage to sell our Zafira? Will we have as nice as holidays as last year? Will my new job continue to be great? Will our eldest continue to flourish at her new school? Will our youngest give up his dummy? Will all the needles fall off the Christmas tree before we take it down?

Who knows? - here's to a happy new year to all our readers.