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i guess i should put on here that these are photos from a wedding that i photographed in the summer of '03. it was probably one of my best as everything just went perfect that day!! hope you enjoy and let me know ok?

janelle's saturday with no children

i guess since andy (DH) wrote about his adventures, then i'll have to write about mine! i do have to say that is was wonderful to have the day to myself, without carrying a diaper bag or pushing a stroller! it was lovely!

so we started off at the bullring. shannon had been briefly last year when she came to visit and namo had been a few year ago as he use to live in birmingham. but apparently, namo is a HUGE shopper and was the one that was doing all the buying =) we went into selfridges which is one of the main attractions. here's a photo of the outside of the building!

it really is an interesting building! but the shopping atleast clothes wise is just all 'fashion' oriented and not at all to my taste! but their food hall is another thing! that is my place =) lots of american food, cereals and cake mixes, aunt jemima's, marshmallow fluff, goober jelly, oreo cookies and the likes!! there is also a krispy kreme's and a yo sushi sushi bar! yummy =)




we walked over to the mailbox, another shopping place. this one is high class as well with very very expensive shops like harvey nichols where a skirt per se costs like £150! yikes! but its cool to walk through. at the back lies all the restaurants and bars and hotel and spa, which all sit on the canal! it really is nice! so we ate at the red pepper which was really nice then walked along the canals to the symphony hall.

we eventually thought about going home for a bit before going out for dinner. so we started walking towards the bus stop when for whatever reason, i suddenly remembered that i didn't have my house keys! yikes! they are usually kept in the diaper bag...which was convienently with andy. yep. fun. so we thought we could maybe go see a movie then out to dinner then maybe andy would be on his way home. well there were no movies at that particular time and none that shannon and namo hadn't seen. so our 2nd option was to go on towards home and to the hall (our church) where there are a spare set of our house keys (we done this before!) so one of the ladies from church lent us her hall key to get our house key then actually drove us home! so very nice. oh did i mention that it was raining as well? yeah. we were soaked!

so we did go out around 8 for a balti (indian/bangledeshi food) and it was so so so so good! and then we got home 15 minutes after andy and the boys! so all in all? it was a great, entertaining day!

Welsh Adventure

This is my first blog here, since Nelly added me as a contributor - yes I am the DH (as I am known to all scrapbooking enthusiasts apparently) - so I'll begin by saying a big HELLO to all our readers across the world.

So Janelle packed me a few bags, explained which bottles were for lunch and which for dinner, and probably a few other instructions as well, and sent me on my merry way to Wales with Micah and Noah.

Both boys fell asleep initially and I thought I would get a good run before they woke, however I needed to stop for petrol (gas) and Micah woke in a foul mood. So I had to lift him out of the car and try filling the car up whilst holding him - not too bad. I got him a packet of his favourite (chocolate stars) to cheer him up a bit.

Back in the car we got underway. Half way down the M5, I began to think of the day ahead, wondering what I would need, and hoping Janelle had packed everything. It was then that I asked myself why I hadn't listened more carefully to the long list of instructions. Typical husband I know, so when I next stopped at Junction 8 services (to look up an atlas to check directions - I refuse to get a SatNav) I messaged janelle just to check the instructions on food.

A little further on I pulled off the M50 into the market town of Newent, as I knew there was a christian bookstore there. I got both boys out - Micah was in a better mood by now, and enjoyed the freedom. Noah had woken too. I quickly found a suitable book to give to my cousin Owain and paid. Then decided to go for a walk along a lake just to give Micah some more free time before it was back into the car. The path was a bit muddy in places but not too bad. Didn't think that Micah would want to run through the muddiest parts, so his shoes and the bottom of his jeans were plastered. We turned back fairly quickly and I endeavoured to clean him up somewhat.

It was by now 1.30, and it never crossed my mind to give them lunch. I gave them a biscuit each as we got back on the road and Micah also had half a banana.

The boys were fine the rest of the journey and we got to the environs of Abertillery at around 2.30. Stopped at Asda to buy a sandwich for Micah and myself. There wasn't anything really child friendly, so Micah didn't eat much at all. Noah scoffed down his food and we got moving again just after 3.

Both boys fell asleep as we headed down the valley to the church in Risca where the baptism was going to be held, and Noah slept through half the service which was great.Micah woke but was super. He played with his cars but then found the pews more interesting, climbing over and sliding under. He was completely taken up with the big splash, when Owain was actually getting baptised, and afterward found a room full of toys. It had 3 rocking horses in it so he was in heaven. He didn't even want to come out for a biscuit!!! I took some sausages and a sandwich to him and set it on a seat. Later I went in and he had moved the food to a small high chair he had found and was himself sitting in it.

Noah on the otherhand was passed around all the women there, and some men too, and enjoyed all the attention. I was complimented on my bravery in bringing 2 young children on my own, so I enjoyed the attention too.

Later we went back to my cousin's place, and watch the second half of the Ireland v England rugby game. Ireland were superb and whipped England good and proper 43 to 13, so I was in a great mood. Before we left we saw the start of the Wales v France game, so Micah came away cheering for Wales, saying 'Wales, win game'. Sadly they didn't and so France are top of the championship table and Ireland have to settle for second place for now, but there's still 2 games to go, so we hope.

The bell has rung, so I'll go now. The way home was without incident and both boys slept through most of it.

a dreary day

i know, i've already posted today, but i wanted to note it down that noah and micah fell asleep at the same time today and i have atleast an hour of peace and quiet ahead of me! yippee =) so i have my cup of tea (earl grey and vanilla...yummy!) and am going to spend 20-30 minutes reading my blogs then i'll finish the laundry!

TGIF

so not much happening this past week here at #23! besides the little things like...i am tired oh so tired of wiping snotty noses! micah does his own, the nice 'sleeve to nose then across the cheek'wipe! thats been fun! noah has it as well, but he has a lot of catarrah as well. so he keeps coughing that up then gagging on it...yea, its great!

wednesday night was a terrible sleeping night for him (and us), but last night was fine! he just woke up once which is normal for him! hopefully some day he'll be sleeping through....yea, some day! micah's been sleeping awesome. only once this week did he wake and make his way into our bed! i don't even remember it, he goes to andy's side of the bed and then when i wake up, there he is!!

we have some friend coming this weekend. well, my friend and her boyfriend for us to meet for the first time! shannon was my roommate (1 of 3) my 3rd year at milligan. she moved to london last year to be close to her boyfriend! very brave of her!!!

andy is probably going down to abertillery, wales tomorrow with micah and noah. owain, andy's cousin is being baptised!! and they haven't met noah i don't think! so it should be a good weekend!

hope you all have a good weekend too!!

Check out my Slide Show!

wow!

our pancakes were yummy!!! good ol' avril melted down some cadbury's chocolate and had some fresh strawberries and then some cornish ice cream and the aunt jemima's maple syrup and oh-me-oh-my!!! scrumptious!!!

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i have another photo from simon and esther's wedding, but its of our little family!

Happy Pancake Day!!!

i hope everyone is having a fantastic day and that you will all enjoy some pancakes tonight!! i know we will! i went to selfridges and bought some aunt jemima pancake mix and syrup...yup, imported costing $10!!! yikes =)

photo for esther and simon

so i'm going back through photos to edit them in photoshop. especially wedding ones, although the problem is that i don't have very many on the computer since we have been using mostly film. we have a scanner, though at the moment, we've lost the cd that it came with so it is not being recognized! oops. am really wanting a new scanner that you can also scan negatives it as i have loads and loads from my travelling days! it would so awesome to see what is on them.

you see in college in my photography classes, we did it old school! ha ha... darkroom, chemicals, time and lots of patience! i totally miss it and would love love love to have a darkroom! we did try a few times and have the chemicals, trays, and a very old russian enlarger that was truly old, but cheap =) so using our bathroom and little closet under the stairs to try, i did a few prints, but nothing really worthy!

so anyway, i pulled up some photos from simon and esther's wedding (my brother-in-law) and his beautiful wife! i unofficially took photos at their wedding to get some candid shots and stuff..which wasn't very easy as andy was the best man and busy and i had micah, a then 13 month old in tow!!

so here is the original:


and here is what i have created...what do you think?


besides being in a grungy style frame, its a bit more punchier in colour. i love this 'new' thing i have learned and have used on most of the recent photos. i have a few more techniques to try though!! its so fun!

this is the orignal photo


in sepia

and as a special =) aren't they cute?

wishing for more snow!

here we are again (i know the photo is already posted back on the 9th when we had the snow). i have the photo as a screen saver and micah loves it! sometimes when we pull into our driveway, he says, "where's snow?" its so cute!
credits for the LO: white grungy look around border-katie pertiet@designer digitals, alph-tonya doherty at scrapgirls, stars and words from thao at scrapgirls and the star like overlay is from a collection called ethan's hope at scrapgirls.

here are some layouts with the sweden photos

this is using vintage flowers from shabby princess and the picture border is kpertiet at designer digitals. (the first one from the other day was the same shabby princess.)


this is also from shabby princess called amour and the swirlies are from designer digitals as well as well as the scalloped photo edges! hope you like them! i am loving being in photoshop and learning so much! thanks to jessica sprague who shares photoshop secrets every friday! sometimes for the photos themselves and other times for the actual scrapbooking! its awesome. i am really wanting to learn more and more for our new(ish) photography business!

my choice out of the 2 pics below.

i couldn't decide at first, but the more i looked, i liked something out of both of them so i basically combinded them and this is the result!

i just found...

ugh! i just found 2 full unused toilet paper rolls IN the toilet downstairs! ugh! how gross!! i'm assuming micah, but there was no TP in that bathroom earlier, and we had been running upstairs to that bathroom, always forgetting to bring a roll down. then i finally got a roll and went in and voila! there are 2! oh well...

yesterday we went to visit some friends up near wolverhampton. andy went to uni with calum and i knew him then too. he is now married and they have a 5 month old who was born on micah's 2nd birthday. we hadn't seen them since september so it was nice to see them again! kian has gotten big and has these huge blue eyes! he's lovely...and though i didn't take any photos, i will hopefully be taking some family portraits for them soon!

as for family news...we took the boys to the baby clinic to weigh in. micah at almost 2 and 1/2 is 28lbs and 2feet 9inches, i think. he is talking away, sentences getting a bit longer, as in 3 words sometimes 4. still running, riding his bike, playing with his numerous cars that mimi keeps supplying and not so much playing with his trains. they are a hit and miss at the moment!
noah weighed in at 20lbs and i'm not sure at the moment what his height is. noah is gotten the crawling down, moving faster and into everything. he is pulling himself up to standing position in his cot and on the couch and wherever he can. loves to eat and is eating very well. chicken, courgettes and grapes is a favourite at the moment.

now which version do you like better? please help me decide!

half term

this week has been half term for schools here in the midlands. its been so nice to have andy at home with me and the boys! also starting this past saturday has been a series of meeting down in redditch taken by colin roberts. he's been speaking on the book of Amos. so andy went down on saturday and monday nights and i went on tuesday night and will hopefully go tonight as well. andy and i take it in turns since the boys came along. i was out sunday night at our gospel meeting and andy was speaking last night at our ministy meeting (speaking on Lamentations) and he'll speak again on that in 2 weeks time.

also on monday we had a little party for the sunday school children. we had originally planned to go up to the lickey hills by train, but since all the snow and then the rain, it was a bit too wet for that! so we held it at the hall and it was a good time. we had 14 children (including micah) and then 8 adults. we got fish and chips or sausages and chips for lunch and had a great time. andy chose games that would correspond in some way to Bible stories and so was able to chat a bit in between each game and ask questions! first was noah and the ark and we played port and stourboard. then the tower of babel and we had to build a tower out of paper and each person was given a word in a different language and that was all we were able to say!! one story was about abram and sarah and how sarah laughed when the angels said that sarah would concieve in her old age, so we were paired up and had to make the other laugh without laughing ourselves...and so on.

afterwards andy and i took the boys downtown and walked along the canal. but then it started raining! so we found shelter in the symphony hall! tuesday we went down to worcester to meet up with our friend lois who also happens to be andys' brothers' wife's little sister(did you get that?)! we came home, ate dinner then lois and i went down to redditch.

wednesday us and lois went into birmingham again but this time to the art gallery. it was nice as neither andy or i had been in quite a few years! and lois had never been. micah was really well behaved and seemed to enjoy himself.

now today is thursday and andy and i have been planning... we have been thinking on and off the past few years about starting up a wedding photography business. since 2002 i have been the photographer for 10 weddings with my 11th one coming at the end of next month. so far things have just passed on to friends and others by word of mouth. we've done no advertising or anything. but we've enjoyed it. but we've come to the point where if we are to continue then we would like to step it up a notch. new equipment to be able to offer a better service to our customers, but that needs money of which we don't have. so if we start up our business and make it official, then we have funding and can further it along....we hope!

more sweden photos

in all these photos, i've been taking them into photoshop. adjusting the colour and contrast. adding a new layer, giving it a gaussian blur then changing that layer to either soft light or overlay and sometimes changing the opacity.

sweden

andy and i went to sweden over the new year of 03-04. it is now what...07 and i am finally getting around to scrapping these photos!!! so here is one layout and a 2nd photo!

the big freeze is now the big thaw

england is just so droll sometimes! we go and get this beautiful beautiful snow for 2 days, then this morning we wake up to...fog and rain! horrible! its rained most the day and while we are ok, some places have been flooded! its extra-ordinary! so we went from -2c to 4-6c.

blah =(

anyway, 2 LOs for today. something to look forward to eh?

more snow

well, the snow that i said was just for show? nope! it accumulated a bit and made the roads treacherous! a 30-45minute round trip to the shops turned into an almost 3 hour trip!! it was crazy, but awesome at the same time! it was so beautiful outside!

micah and andy had loads of fun playing outside while i stayed inside and warm with noah!

here is another photo that irina took for us!

family photo!

here is the photo from yesterday! so thanks to our lovely neighbors, we have a photo of noah's first snow! and micah's first snowman! obviously if i had a camera there would be a ton of photos as i keep seeing something i want to photograph!! oh well =) such is life!

it is actually snowing again, but it won't accumulate. its just for show!! its all slushy and starting to go yuck! though our poor street is still covered as there are no snow plows in enlgand =) atleast none that i have seen!!

no school again today and no school next week for half term, so we are enjoying the daddy time!!

snow still on ground!

its amazing! the snow has lasted this long! and it snowed for most the day, though towards dinner time it was becoming wet!

we did get to go sledging though micah fell asleep on the way (not even a 5 minute drive). so i went out first, found james, naomi, tim and gary. i made 2 runs then went to the car and andy went down. then micah and noah both woke up. i put them on the swings for a few moments until andy came back to fetch us.

noah and i rode in the sled as andy pulled us. micah wasn't in a good mood anymore so didn't want to sit in the sled or even walk. we managed to stay for about 30-45 minutes. i'm not sure how much time passed. noah enjoyed it and never once cried. he went down the hill a few times with james and once with me. micah did eventually go down 2 times with andy, then we left!

back at the house, some of the neighbours had started building this huge snowman! he's about 9 feet tall!!! right across from our house, so the snowman is looking in our windows! erina or irena (not sure of the czech spelling) used her camera and took a photo of us in from of the snowman, so hopefully, we'll have something to show for it!!

here is a photo of micah though from last week!

still snowing

i'd say we have about 3 inches in our area! andy and micah have just gone outside for a dander, then in the afternoon we'll go out to the big hill and sledge with some of the bartons i think!! so looking forward to that!

the last time i went sledging was my first year here in the UK. we had some good snow in feb 04 but i was just 5 weeks or so pregnant with micah and since i had had the miscarry the year before, i didn't want to tempt anything!
so, ready or not snow, here we come!

9cm to be exact! i just passed the ruler out to andy! poor micah doesn't have any snow gear as we don't ever get snow, i wasn't about to buy something that he wouldn't use! so today he has on: long john(pj's), a plastic bag (really), some lined trousers and jeans. 2 pairs of socks, a long sleeve t, a short sleeve t, a turtleneck, and another long sleeve t. a fleece hoodie and his jacket. bob the builder wellies and a hat and some mittens that might have been given to micah his first christmas!!! its sooooo funny!!!

i'm so sorry now that i took my camera into the shop! how dreadful! my other non digital camera, i put film in this morning and turned it on and....the battery is dead! how dreadfull!

snow, beautiful snow!!!

FINALLY we have some snow! it started in the night, was snowing at 4 when i woke up with noah and now at 6 it is still snowing =) hip hip hurray!!!

we are just listening to the school closures on the radio and ofcourse, andy's school is not one of them...atleast not yet! i can't wait to get the boys outside! that will be so much fun!!

** andy just left for work when the phone rang! it was the deputy head saying school is cancelled!! yippee!! so i just called andy to tell him! hopefully he hadn't gotten too far, which he probably hadn't since roads are still covered!!! **

we have a crawler

just last night, noah started crawling!! yea!! so off with the old, on with the new =) what fun! and unfortunately, we have no digi camera to record it all with!! i took the camera in, just yesterday afternoon for repairs (or fingers crossed, replacement!!).

he is still learning the ins and outs, but he's so cute when he does it!! though he'll crawl forward a good bit then sit himself up for a rest! he's eating a little bit of finger foods aka cheerios =) and i have finally made some different foods for him and he is enjoying them and eating it all up! chicken, courgettes (zucchini) and grapes is one and the other is cold chicken, cottage cheese with pinapples and yogurt.

i was at andys school yesterday afternoon (and again this afternoon i'll be there) with my bookstand for usborne books. trying to sell them as the parents are in and out for parents evening. did ok yesterday and hopefully will get enough in today that the school will be able to get the 8 free encyclopedia's plus atleast £15 in free books. would be nice. andy's head teacher has offered me a standing invite for every parents evenings! so thats nice.
this photo is from our walk on saturday at the canal. i'm not sure yet if i like it, so may go and play with it some more! let me know what you think...i was thinking it would be a nice card/postcard front for valentine's day or something like that! this is the bridge that we walked towards and then back to the car. it was a lovely walk though very muddy! next time maybe a canal walk where there is an actual cement path or something =)

noah craig - 8 months

micah brooke...29 months!

another LO

i used an inked edge and a frame from designer digitals, katie pertiet.










i been finding this week that noah isn't really wanting to eat any savory foods, but will scarf down any fruits and yogurts. and that was store bought and home cooked that we was refusing after4-5 bites.
so today i made some more food that i know he enjoyed before and at first i thought it was working till 5 bites later he wasn't opening his mouth! so we pulled micah's steering wheel over and voila! he wasn't paying attention to me and would automatically open his mouth!! yippee!! he finished his first savory meal this week!!