talking to daddy

i called andy today during his lunch time for a chat (as i do every day). i call from my mobile as i have free calls. while talking to him today, micah picked up the home phone and pretended to call daddy too!! it was so cute! so i got him to come and talk to daddy on my phone...and sometimes instead of talking he would point at what daddy was asking about or what he wanted to show him! but atleast he was talking! usually he only listens on the phone!

micah has also been into drawing or just writing on paper! he'll walk around with the pen and paper and just draw...usually just lines of some sort. back in september he was always asking you to draw a nee-naw (fire engine), a bike, a car or a train! now its either a big star and little stars inside, or a shark! the shark b/c we went to the sealife center, but he hasn't asked for that recently.

oops..i'm becoming a blog reader and not a writer!

WOW! what a weekend! we've had a great time with aunti jo, who micah for some reason called darla? i think thats what it was anyway...the only darla we know is from the little rascals!! he he =)
friday night our thanksgiving meal went off very very well! we had so much food and once we sat down, i kept forgetting things! the carrots were still on the stove and the peach tea still in the fridge! but everyone enjoyed it and we were too stuffed for dessert!
i usually make pumpkin cheesecake, but this time for times sake i made (ok, jo actually made it) pumpkin cake...i think similar to the bread, just has a cream cheese icing! oh my goodness was it good!! yummy =)
saturday we didn't do much during the day, but late afternoon we went into birmingham, to the frankfurt markets that these people come and set up every christmas! yummy food, awesome atmosphere, cool things to see and buy!! i love it!! this year i NEED to take photos! especially b/c at night, its so cool with all the lights! so anyway, we went and it was absolutely packed! as it was saturday night i guess...it was so hard to push the stroller through the crowds, i was glad i hadn't brought the double stroller!!
sunday was the normal day, it was andy's turn to go to the morning meeting, so i stayed home with micah and noah and got everyone dressed ready for sunday school. then dinner where we enjoyed the leftover sweet potatoe souffle and some mashed potatoes (as well as chicken, green beans and something else that wasn't leftovers)!!

i've also been playing around on photoshop and have learned how to turn some photos into the soft focus look! heres a photo i did of noah, the before and after:

good morning!

we've had a productive morning here!! up at 6, fed noah, laid him back down to sleep by half 6. andy in the meanwhile started peeling potatoes, then the sweet potatoes. i made the dough for the potatoe rolls. cooked the sweet potatoes and mashed them, ready for the rest of the items needed to make the souffle (however its spelled!) and neither little boy woke up until just now at 8!!
what a great morning!!! going into town to meet jo who flew in this morning, then we are meeting up with our cousin carys who is studying at the university here. then home to cook for dinner at half 6 with gary and hannah coming to dinner with us!! yea for thanksgiving! am so looking forward to it!
i'll have more to write later i'm sure!!!

thanks mimi

mimi sent micah a care package today! one red truck like pop-pop's and a thomas sleeping bag! thanks mimi, its even better than mommy thought it would be =)


i put noah in the jumper today and as i turned to talk to him, i noticed that he had the tip of his tongue sticking out...but not just that, he had his tongue twisted on the side...i think! ofcourse as soon as i looked at him he smiled so stopped! but i think when jonny was here last week, he noticed noah doing that as well! that's my boy...very talented so young =)

i was watching some martha stewart short cooking programs the other night and was really enjoying it!! it was all about thanksgiving! and as i miss all the who-ha of it there in the states, its nice to have a small one here with our family. b/c we don't get the day off it's hard to invite others around, but maybe i will this year as instead of tomorrow we are having ours on friday. my sister-in-law jo is flying in friday morning so i thought it'd be more fun to wait until then! it'll be her first thanksgiving!
so with this martha stewart stuff, i will be having swede (which you all in the states call rutebega or something like that) which i've never had for thanksgiving...but i have had it and its yummy! she also showed a shepherds pie that used your left overs!! you layered your stufing, cranberry sauce, turkey, carrots, gravy then piled on the mashed potatoes! i am so going to use that IF i have leftovers!!!
i think i'll go back as well and have a look at some more of her recipes! its just fun to watch!!!

have a good thanksgiving tomorrow everyone!!

happy birthday karen!

today is my sister-in-laws 27th birthday! hope is was a great day karen!!

i have some more photos...these are just from yesterday. my mom was asking for some of the boys together, so here you go:

random

those are from yesterday as well! but i thought it was so sweet! noah was asleep first, then micah fell asleep in my lap while watching 'cars'. i layed him down and he stretched out like that!! too cute =)

noah is still doing well with his eating! last night was mashed papaya and banana for dessert and he loved it!! although i don't think i'll ever do the papaya myself again! the seeds inside are YUCK!! i was so grossed out and at first thought something was wrong with it! i'm shivering just thinking about it!!
tonight for dinner noah had carrots and parsnips. now i don't like parsnips, but can't influence noah right? well, the first few bites he wasn't too sure! he had the greatest of faces!! but he ate most of it anyway! and followed that with apple and mango (that i bought).

we went out this afternoon as i just needed to get out of the house as micah was going to drive me crazy! so out we went even though it was raining. we took the bus into harborne and i just stopped in a few shops. noah fell asleep on the way there and slept through the whole experience until the bus ride home. micah slept on the way there, but woke up once we were off the bus. i let him out of the stroller a few different times and he was so good! my only problem with him was that he walks too slow!!

i have 3, no 2 christmas presents left to buy for family. i saw something today for noah as well but didn't buy. micah i'm not sure what to buy as it seems we are overloaded as it is! i have a few people to buy for outside of the family but the german markets are up now in town so will have to do some shopping there! can't wait =)

oh i wanted to post this for a few days now! last week i made a stew and wanted to make some biscuits to go with it...as in american biscuits but didn't have a recipe! all i had was one for scones, which are a bit sweeter, but did it anyway! then i couldn't find a circular cookie cutter, so had to use a heart shaped one!! here they are:

photos from today

sleep patterns

now that we seem to have micah settled in and going to bed around 8 instead of 9, it seems that noah has decided not to sleep very nice!  he is up atleast 2 times wanting food and nothing else.  its so annoying and frustrating as he in even eating solids and having his milk feeds!  but hopefully this to shall pass!

 

in other news, we bought some new flooring for our upstairs bathroom!  it's had carpet in it since we bought it and i hate it!  why put carpet in the bathroom?? makes no sense! so finally after 4 year of living here, we have done something about it!

 

we also had some friends over for sunday dinner (aka lunch) and so i had fun cooking for 5 and 1/2 people (the 1/2 being micah!!).  i experimented with swede mashed with carrots with butter and black pepper...it was interesting, and everyone said it was good! so who knew!  noah had swede and carrot too (without the butter and black pepper!). he has also enjoyed sweet potatoes.  not sure what we'll try next! i still have some swede in the freezer!!  and i have some parsnips and butternut squash too.  not sure about the parsnips as i don't like them either, but have heard its okay mashed with carrots??  i'll let you know =)

finally.....

bought cars off of ebay! it came today and i think i was more excited than micah!! he was funny watching it though as 'lightening' he calls his car, 'mater' is daddy's car, 'sally' is noah's car and 'luigi' is mommy's car!  so everytime mater was on screen, 'daddy's car, daddy's car'!!

it's such a good movie!

mimi, thought of you....

thought of you mimi today when i asked micah if he was enjoying his cheerio's.  i said: "are you eating your o's?" waving my index finger in an 'o' shape.  micah mimicked me back and said mimi!

he remembers you mom and the things you do!!  your name and pop-pop come up every now and again if we've done something that you guys did with him!!  and now he's found a silver car that has become mimi's car!!  so if ever you find a mtachbox truck to match pop-pop's, send it our way!!

 

noah is starting to hold his own bottle!  he's really funny (aka, annoying) when doing it as he keeps pulling it out of his mouth! so frustrating....last night he grabbed hold of the teat and sprayed himself too! oh dear!  

oh and yesterday he had his first rusk!  i gave it to him to hold and chew on, but ended up mushing it in milk to feed it to him!  he loved it though!

micah

how cute is he?? he won't let me take him upstairs for a nap. and i'm not fighting him about it as i don't have the patience! but here he is, fussing over something, i'm not even sure what it was about. i was making dinner (slow cooker) and he was just whinning, not loudly or anything, and away he went! it was so cute!!


and just after i was rocking a crying noah and off he went too!! bliss and quiet =)

sleep...ahhh

hoorah! noah slept from 11:30 till 8!! that was pure bliss.
micah joined us at some point, but i think it was around 5/6 which was fine! i barely noticed anyway! he didn't take a nap yesterday and so went to bed quite easily at half 8! it was great =)

who has my name?

there i was growing up in baltimore thinking my name is pretty unique! while hard to remember by most, and not easy to pronounce...i only knew 3 others with the same name.
now i find out with first and last name there are 19 others!!! oh dear....

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 19 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

now my married name is much better! i am an individual!!!!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

BANG

BANG....BANG, bang bang!!!
that's all we,ve been hearing for the past few nights! fireworks,fireworks and more fireworks! its guy fawkes day today so their have been bonfires and fireworks all over the country. while its great fun when you go out to see fireworks somewhere, its so annoying when every 5th house seems to be having their own bit of fun in their back gardens and whatnot! annoying!

anyway, we've had a great weekend! we went out friday night for mine and jonny's birthdays to frankie and benny's and it was really really good!! saturday we went ice skating with some others in our youth group. my one arm is quite soar actually from catching myself on the sides so i wouldn't fall! and i have a lovely bruise from hitting on the door, upon exiting the ring!! oh well, it was good fun!
micah even joined us on the ice! they had little skates with 2 blades that attach to their shoes! he only went around 3 times, but i think he enjoyed it! as soon as my friend emails me the picture, i'll post them =)

jonny's away this week down to worcester, so i am home alone with the boys again! micah has a cold...well just a runny nose at the moment, so i'm off tomorrow morning to get some medicene. i think tuesday we'll go to treasure island again. its been a month since we were there last!

happy birthday....

...to me!! yippee =)
we are going out for a meal! i'm not cooking i decided! it's my birthday!!
in other news...micah hasn't slept at all today. he is now crying about 'blue' the blue marker i have just taken away from him because he is slowly turning blue himself!!! poor boy! so sorry micah, but one day you'll understand!

okay, i'm back and micah slept. cried himself to sleep, crying over that blue marker! so now andy is home, my hair is straightened and away we go to frankie and benny's!

finding nemo

today we went to the sea life centre (jonny, micah, noah and i) as i had a coupon for the entrance price! we had such a blast! it was the first time for me and my boys, though jonny had been once a long long time ago!
i think my favorite 2 things were the sea otters who were so incredibly adorable that i wanted to take one home with me! and the second was the sea turtle tunnel!! its like you are walking through that scene in jaws...you have fish all around you and above and below you! it was awesome! there were 2 sea turtles and you were just so close to them!!!
we can't wait to go back!!!

happy birthday

to my friend jonny (who is staying with us at the moment) and to one of my oldest friends melanie!! she is currently living in canada, and has been actually since we were 18!! so i have only seen her a handful of times since then (11 years)!!! she did an irish dance at my wedding and it was really good!! she and i were 2 peas in a pod for a long while...
so anyway, happy birthday jonny and mel!
on to other things, it is SO cold here!! its really turned cold and we are freezing!! i need to get another winter coat for micah as his arms are too long for last years!! and we need to get him a scarf and mittens!! what fun! thankfully jonnys here cause he doesn't mind shopping with me!!
noah had his 3 set of shots on tuesday, and cried and cried, but once i fed him, we were all good!! he also got weighed!! 15lbs 12oz!!! thats 1pound and 2 ounces gained since earlier this month!! but we have also started on solid foods since then too! noah is also rolling over, both front-back and back-front!!
micah is having issues with going to sleep, so we've had 2 great nights of screaming!! what fun =)

wow

i can't belive that it is november 1st already!! time has flown by and i have no idea where october has gone!!!
so much has happened!
we had an AWESOME time in baltimore, tennessee and north carolina. i'll post atleast one photo of each! in TN i was able to see my photography professor who i adore and absolutely loved her. i had to take basic B&W as part of my communications major and loved it and mrs anthony so much that i added photography as a minor along with business. when i first came to england and had the chance to travel abroad, it was photography that i travelled to do! i love taking B&Ws of all the old buildings, landscapes and people! it was fantastic!
so anyway, TN....i also met up with 3 of my best girlfriends who i studied with, lived with some of them, travelled with, prayed with, cried with.....and everything else!! it was awesome to see them again!


i visited a friend in north carolina on the way home from TN and her and her husband fed us a feast for kings (or so it felt) it was awesome! and so enjoyable to see friends and where they live!! it took us 12 hours to get home from NC but both boys were fantastic in the car and we had a pretty enjoyable time as we took the blue ridge parkway for part of the way! it was gorgeous!
we spent time with the family, enjoyed being spoiled and i can saw gained weight from all the great food!!! then to come home and not be able to find anything as good in the grocery store!! guess we should live on bread and water for awhile...ha ha! fat chance =)
it took a long time to get home as in we left friday night from baltimore and arrived in our house later saturday night! yuck!! but we are home, kinda well rested and happy!! monday night one of andy's best friends jonny (from belfast) flew in monday night for a possible 2 week visit! much fun!