End of term holidays

The boys and I have enjoyed their weeks holiday from school. They've both enjoyed having friends round to play and being busy. We went to Blaise Castle on Thursday and had great fun in their adventure play park. There is so much to enjoy there we'll go back again soon. We also had great fun at North Somerset Museum on Friday. They often have exhibits on during the holidays and we went on civil war day. the boys had a great time, they were really interested in everything they were shown and taught. They particularly liked learning to fire rifles. I scrap booked a couple of pictures to help us remember.

I'm feeling a little better

Thanks to everyone for looking out for me over the weekend. I'm feeling much better now. I guess I had what's called a 'Grumbling Appendix' - in other words I felt as though I'd been kicked in my stomach. I'm hoping it's all passed now, don't want to go through life with a ticking time bomb inside me - an appendicitis is not nice. I was very touched by people's phone calls and get well wishes. It really did make me feel good. Jason was amazing and looked after me so well. He even cooked a really nice Sunday dinner ( I guess it took me to be on my sick bed for him to venture into the kitchen). Thanks anyway Jase.

Life is back to normal now - cooking, shopping, cleaning, tidying, washing & ironing. Although my work is never really appreciated by my boys, I now appreciate being well enough to do it. I remember thinking last week, 'I'd love a rest, just a little lie in, and a day without the constant chores that will only need to be done again tomorrow'. Well I got my rest, and as a typical ungrateful soul by the end of it I was wishing I was well enough to jump up and get back on with the work again. Note to self : I must remember that I should not let others gratitude effect the way I work, but rather to simply be grateful that I am well enough to work!

Tayler's 5th Birthday

Tayler is 5. He really did have a great birthday. It started at 6am with presents and breakfast, then off to school with a huge bag of sweets for all his class mates. After school we went to Hutton Moor Leisure centre for his bouncey castle party. There were only 10 boys, but they made enough noise and trouble for 20. We had to pull them off each other they got so crazy. Tayler mangaged to avoid trouble and had a great time. He loved being with his friends and enjoyed the bouncey castle so much.

I think Jason and I were exhausted by the end of the day. We always seem to finish each birthday party day by saying 'never again!' Is there any such thing as a stress free birthday party? Next year I think we'll let Tayler choose a friend and take them somewhere special - a theme park or the zoo, hopefully that'll be much easier.

Family History

I have been so inspired by my good friend Louise with Family History work. I've had these photos for such a long time. I've pictured myself scrapbooking them since I first saw them. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I just love this work. This is my Great grandmother and her sisters. Such incredible women, I'm so blessed to be related to them.

Football Training Layout

Took the camera out when we went to watch Jarom play football last week. The boys had so much fun together. That's what sports are all about!

New Boots

We had Jarom's parents evening on Tuesday. His teacher Mrs Clark sang his praises, she really did know the character of our boy. I'm so pleased. She said that he's quite brilliant at Maths and Reading beyond a child she has ever taught. They are pitching work to his level and he is responding well. They gave the children a little test the other day - quite a difficult one, meant for children several years older to see how they would respond. Jarom got 27/30 - the highest mark. Jarom had mentioned this to me the other day, and typical me, I responded with - 'That's brilliant, but what happened to the other 3 marks, why didn't you get 30?'. Mrs Clark laughed at my reaction. I'm really not a pushy mum, am I? I remember loving maths and getting top marks on tests, and I still remember some of those lost marks, and errors I made in my work. I guess I wanted Jarom to see there's still room for improvement, he does tend to rest on his laurals.

So, because we really don't praise Jarom enough, or recognise how fantastic he is, I bought him a pair of football boots. They were on sale - only £8, what a bargin! He really does deserve them. And he's so pleased. I laced them up and fitted them on him last night before we sat down together to read 'Harry Potter' and the scriptures together, and he didn't want to take them off. I should explain that he's started playing football with his friends on a Saturday morning in the park and has just been playing in trainers that don't fit him well. He's so excited to meet up with Dominic and Bradley on Saturday - let's just hope the weather is good, it's forecasted to snow.

Well, it's Tayler's parents evening next week, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that one. Although he's doing well achedemically, he's a really pickle in the class room. I'm actually starting to go in now on Friday mornings to help out with reading etc, just to make up for my troublesome son.

My Beautiful Sisters

I love my Sisters! This picture was taken on Boxing day 2007.

Birthday Tea

Saturday Evening we went as a Family to Bristol to celebrate Tim Jones 40th Birthday. Took a few pictures whilst we were there and here are the results. What a fun evening, food was great too, but the company was what mattered. We love the Jones family, each of their children seem to grow a foot each time we see them, what do you feed them Claire? Thanks so much for the invitation so good to see you again. Can't wait for the summer, see you then!

Crunchie Oat Cookies

This recipe has been a family favourite for along time. my mum would get up super early and bake them as a treat whenever we had a family outing, or a youth temple trip. Thanks so much mum, as a mum now myself I now know how much that means. I usually like to add chocolate chips (place them on the top before baking) or even raisins and cinnamon, but for an extra special treat I put chocolate fudge sauce on these. Very moreish and with a glass of cold milk - perfect!

Takes 10-15 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook
75g/3oz Porridge oats
50g/2oz Plain flour
50g/2oz Margarine or butter
50g/2oz Granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of golden syrup
half teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
(These are the original ingredient's but I always double or even triple the amounts, if you're baking why not make a huge batch!)

1. Mix porridge oats with flour.
2. Melt marg./butter inpan with sugar and syrup.
3. Stir bicard. of soda into mixture in pan and take off heat.
4. Add to flour and oats mixture and mix well.
5. Make walnut size balls of mixture and place on greased baking sheet, (I use baking parchment paper).
6. Bake in pre-heated oven at gas 4, 350 f, or 180 fan assisted oven for 10 minutes.
7. Let cookies cool slightly before removing and cooling further on wire rack.
8. Store in an air tight container and they'll stay chewy for several days.

For the chocolate fudge sauce I mixed icing sugar and cocoa with a tiny amount of boiling water and then dribbled over the top! I just love this recipe, especially as the cookies are made from oats, you can kid yourself that they are healthy! Ha, Ha!

We had friends for dinner on yesterday - Ammon and Amy Cheskin, and Darren and Louise Evans with their beautiful children - Kasheba, Tia and Theo. It was so lovely to have them, we haven't spent much time with friends recently. And glad to say that they all enjoyed the cookies, so here's the recipe and you can enjoy eating them too!

Hello 2008!

I haven't dropped off of the planet, it's just that 2008 has been so busy so far that I haven't had time to take a breath, or clean my bathrooms - not good. We all had a wonderful Christmas though. Lovely gifts and lovely being with the ones we love.

The boys are back at school so I'm finally been able to get on top of the office work, the washing and ironing (I have an empty box, yippee!). I know it won't last. And what about some me time? I'm so excited about the new 2 peas photography course it's just what I need. I'm expecting miracles and hoping to start taking portraits in about March (it's a 12 week course). We'll see, keep you all posted.

The picture above was taken close to our home in Weston-super-mare at a place called Uphill. It's a short walk and a good thing too because we took the tripod and it was freezing that day.