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!!

for jemima

i made this yesterday for jemima...

i used mandy steward's faithful collection and a sketch by christiane mueller found over at pencil lines!!



i have just found and fallen in love with this new product by elsie flannigan. her blog a beautiful mess, shows her new line out by Ki Memories and it is GORGEOUS!! now i have to see if i can get her stuff over here!! wow!

i forgot

i forgot to post the other day that noah now has his 2nd bottom tooth! only with the first tooth was there a bit of biting while i was feeding him, but only the first week. since then we've been fine, thankfully! because i was thinking to stop nursing and well, i still might within the next month. i nursed micah up until he was 9 months...(he didn't teeth until 10+ months). noah is 8 months on the 5 february, so i may just start the process then! we'll see =)

photos

micah tries to put this poor bike on everything and anything!

i don't know what we'll do if this bike breaks (which it could be close to)! it was only £4.50 at the grocery store last summer....maybe they'll have them again this summer. though i think it'll be time to get micah a bike with pedals...hmmm

book party

so i was all on my own yesterday as andy was speaking down in malvern. when he does that, he doesn't come home after school, he just heads straight down.

i cleaned and cleaned the whole day, well atleast while i wasn't taking care of the boys...feeding, changing, keeping them occupied?! i didn't think i'd be able to get the boys into bed before 8 when my book party was suppose to start. but thankfully, micah didn't take a nap in the day (not for lack of trying on my part)! so micah fell asleep at 7:15 =) heavenly! i took noah downstairs with me as he had only been awake for 2 hours so it wasn't quite time for a bed. micah woke up at quarter to 8 and i decided to put noah down then as well, so i went back and forth between each room and by 8:05 they were both asleep!! it was awesome!

but by this point i thought that i was the biggest loser as it was just past 8 and no one had showed up for my book party...sadness =( here i was with this very clean downstairs (notice that i didn't say house!!) books all around my front room, and not a soul in sight. i was ready to have a pity party! but alas, i heard voices outside and 2 of my neighbors were walking up the walk with 2 boys in tow!! i was so excited!

then andy got home just before they left so we were able to make the introductions and all is well! now i just need to figure out how to make my neighbors into friends...

frost

we woke up to frost this morning. the first in awhile! so there is hope of snow!! the high today is 1 degrees celcius! and there is snow forecasted for thursday and friday! so we (i) am very excited! i'd love to have snow and to get micah and noah all bundled up for it.

as well as our friend kim who is here studying in birmingham from malaysia...i don't think she has ever seen snow either! so that would be fun for her!!

i'm having a book party tonight and i know some people can't come, so i am really hoping that i get atleast a few people here!!

a night with friends

last night we were invited over to our friends jon and anthea's house down in worcestor. it was a great night as we were able to catch up and enjoy a nice chinese meal! it was very very yummy!
we took with us micah's little dvd player as we didn't want to even attempt to get him to sleep at different place, so we had racing stripes and 101 dalmations (or 15 puppies as micah calls it). well micah has gotten into racing, majorly! anything and anyone that is running or going fast its 'race, race'...and he likes for daddy or mommy to be 'horsey' and he climbs on!


so as we were watching racing stripes, micah wanted to ride daddy horsey. daddy didn't want to so instead he said lets make these pillow/cushions be the horse. come on micah, get on your horse!

a very VERY windy day!

i don't think i can remember it being so incredibly windy before! the wind has just been whipping around the house all day long! i was going to go run out to the shop and post office which is barely a 10 minute walk, but with the wind and a double stroller, i would have been blown away, it was literally that bad.
there have even been 8 deaths so far! sorry, take that back there are 14 deaths! its been a crazy day, thats for sure.

more photos

my mom made this outfit for micah 2 years ago. i wasn't sure it was going to fit noah as i can't remember what size it was, but it did fit!

the hat always makes me think of a old american football helmet!!


micah couldn't be left out, so he tried it on too.

micah fell asleep leaning against me as i fed noah. when i tried to get up to put noah in his cot, this where micah ended up! i couldn't resist taking a photo!!

our week so far in photos

micah at rest

ready, steady....

GO!!!!

funny bedtime moment!

just as andy and i got into bed, lights turned off, all settled in and comfortable....i heard a little thump. hmm, could that have been micah? so up i got and went into his room, to find him laying on his floor, tummy down and sound asleep! he hadn't even woken up!! just rolled right out of bed and probably would have continued sleeping there until morning or until he got cold!!! so i picked him up and deposited him back into bed, and he barely stirred! and i? i climbed back into bed laughing away! and couldn't fall asleep =)

news update..

did you know that noah is now 7 months old? have you realized how fast those 7 months have gone?? i can't believe it! on friday (his 7month day) we went to visit our good friends gary and hannah at the hospital. hannah had just become a first time mommy the day before to samuel andrew! holding samuel who weighed 6bls 11oz, and just seemed teeny! noah weighed in a few ounces heavier at his birth but micah was 5+ounces smaller and it was very hard to imagine that!! samuel was a cutie though!!

it was so hard to believe that noah was almost that small only 7 months earlier! now here he is in his 18lb splendor!! that's right, he is over 18lbs, he is sitting up with only a few falls now and again AND is finally cutting his first tooth!! he is doing more than micah was at that age! well, maybe just in the tooth department oh, and the weight department!!! noah is still a happy jolly soul and we love having him a part of our family..except maybe at night times!! but we are working on that one too!!!
*** edited to read: i looked up micahs' records to compare with noah and while noah weighed 18lbs at 28 weeks, micah weighed the same at 42 weeks!! yikes! what a difference!!!***

not too much else is going on. micah is talking more and more, repeating most everything we say which is cute as he doesn't get it right most the time!

sunday we had the fun of getting not one but 2 flat tires on the way to church! so nobody got to go, although andy and micah got to sunday school!

here's a photo of hannah and baby samuel!

Happy New Year!

Wow! we finally are back on the internet in our own home, and we are back from our christmas break in blefast! we had a fantastic time making the rounds to see family and friends. going caroling, shopping and cooking!
loads of fun, the boys were spoiled as were andy and i! we were able to get out for a date on boxing day! we had dinner at the indian ocean (great indian food) and then on to a movie to see the new james bond! well the only showing was at a theatre with VIP seating, which was double the price but included complimentary tea or coffee before hand and refillable popcorn and drinks during the movie! it also was leather reclining chairs and no one under that age of 16!! it was great!

this photo is from our family get2gether the saturday after christmas

noah looking at mimi (my mom)my mom and i being silly in the kitchen! andy and karen singing for us all while phil's girlfriend deborah plays piano

been MIA

sorry that there have been no posts from us here at #23! we are without internet for the time being, switched provider and won't be set up until the new year. so i am here at my friends house and taking advantage of the time!!
so we are away to belfast on the 21st and there until the 2nd! i know that i have forgotten to mention that my mom is flying over on boxing day into belfast international and then flying home again on new year's day!! we can't wait to have her with us! yippee =)
well i am going to go and enjoy the company here. will maybe try to write over the holidays while at the in-laws, but they are on dial-up and its so slow!!

so MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

these were from our youth group last night (well these are different ones as i forgot to take a photo last night!
we also had pumpkin chessecake! well, let me just tell you! it was almost ruined!! i put it, uncovered from the fridge to a bag to transfer to the stocks house. micah or andy (i'm not sure yet as no one has confessed yet) put micah's shoes into this bag. yeah...on top of the cheesecake! it was only when we were almost there that micah was trying to get into the bag that i took it away to hold in my lap when i looked in! i could not believe my eyes!!!! my wonderful looking pumplin cheesecake had a pair of dirty smelly trainers on top of it! i almost cried! and was in a foul mood for about 15 minutes! but then got over it, scraped off the top bit and smoothed out what was left it was okay!! but boy, i never want to do that again!

and here we all are, in front of avril's christmas tree!!
WMF (west midlands fellowship)

all is quiet

i sit here with a quiet noah on my lap, andys in the shower and micah is either upstairs with daddy or playin quietly elsewhere....wait! playing quietly? micah? oh dear! better go find him:




ok, so i did lots of baking yesterday and left the powdered sugar on the kitchen counter! never though midget would even think of getting into it!!! he's covered, our floor was covered, the table, the door and the wall! what was he doing? he mimicked throwing it at the wall for us, so we'll just assume thats what he was doing!! oh dear! what fun =) just happy its only sugar and not anything worse!! *note to self* do not leave ANYTHING on the kitchen counter!!!!

quiet time

so now that i have the place to myself, i have been able to do some scrapping! i haven't done any in awhile...atleast digitally =) so here is what i did today.
this is from a sketch over at pencil lines by jennie leon. the papers and everything i used is by thao cosgrove over at scrapgirls.



also earlier i was able to make cupcakes!! i haven't made them in ages...but found this cool cupcake blog and have been inspired!
i made chocolate cupcakes and i was going to make a mint buttercream icing, but didn't have enough powdered sugar, so for the mean time i made a delicious peanutbutter filling!! oh my, it is soooo good!!! so i need to make another batch of the cupcakes as they were like soooo easy to make, and use the rest of the filling for them, while my original batch, well 15 of them i'll make the mint frosting for them! i am arranging them in the shape of a christmas tree as the final display, so the icing will be green and i bought the little candied hershey kisses that i'll decorate with to look like coloured lights!!! well, i hope so anyway!
i'll post the finished photos on saturday!!!

good night!

what a day!

andy's cousin dan drove up last night from london, to spend the night here before the 2 of them flew out this morning from the bham airport... poor guys were up at 5 (i think -- i was alseep for atleast a wee bit longer!!). thankfully, all went well this morning and they arrived safely in dublin and simon (my BIL) picked them up and then back up to belfast.
andy said that the funeral went well with a good message! will have to ask again as i didn't listen to andy's explanation very well!

the boys have been mostly good for me today!! micah is feeling a little bit better, but still not eating lots like normal! and he woke up from his nap miserable! he would not stop crying, so i just said ok! we are going for a walk! so once out the door, he was fine! so annoying though as nothing is noticably wrong, and he couldn't/wouldn't tell me anything!

we got back close to 5, had dinner, than a small nap (*i* had a small nap!!) while watching 'cars' and then off for a 'big splash' (aka. a bath) and then bed time! that's when things got out of hand!! i hate it! both boys at once and neither wanted to sleep for me!! micah was ok, stayed in bed with lights off but keep calling for me, especially whenever noah cried. i put noah down 2x when asleep and he woke up like 5-10 minutes later, and i put him down 2x when awake. the first time he layed there with out crying, the other crying. tried the 'controlled crying' thing, and on the 3rd time that i went in a picked him up, he fell asleep in my arms anyway! so i put him down i guess for the 3x asleep and he finally stayed asleep. then when i finally got to go back and check on micah he was sleeping!! hurray =)

just a small update from the weekend

i wanted to share some photos from saturday! it was a blustery day, but we braved it and went down to stow-on-the-wold, down in the cotswolds! its a beautiful little village and fun to visit! we took our new friend kim with us. she is from malaysia and studying here in birmingham and coming to our gospel hall! she hasn't been around much so we took her to see a bit of the countryside!

so the day we were there, santa was coming! they were having their christmas fayre and santa grotto! they were serving mulled wine everywhere...it was funny! micah wasn't very impressed with santa (nor was i), but we paid the £2 to see him and receive a gift anyway as it went to a charity i think! but micah wouldn't even walk in, i had to carry him and then he wouldn't take the gift! oh well! i have a good photo from last year of him with santa!


we were so tired that night and it was already 6 by the time we got home that we decided to get a take away. so we went to an indian place and i got a chicken malaya (i think it was called..mild spice wiht pinapples) and andy got something a bit spicier with onions and peppers. he got a peshwari nan bread and i had a plain one. the peshwari one has honey and maybe almonds and is very nice!

and heres a pic on micah and noah side by side as micah watches bob the builder!!

feverish

not long after i posted yesterday, micah woke up from his nap and unusual for him, wasn't fussy, but very cuddly AND he didn't want the cookie i had bought for him!! strange! we put in cars and sat watching that for a bit while i fed noah, and he sat right next to me and started to lay down at one point. i reached for a blanket and laid it over him, when yikes! he started throwing up!! yuck!

so i had to quickly get up, put noah down somewhere other than the couch and keep micah's hands away from the yuck! poor boy! its so awful to watch a child throw up when they don't understand whats going on!!!

so we changed into jammies and cleaned up the couch, threw his clothes and the blankets into the wash and layed back down on the couch and finished watching cars. he was really good and laid there for about an hour, then decided he felt slightly better and played on his bike in the kitchen and what not.

he was a bit feverish and thankfully fell asleep around 6:15 in his daddy's arms! and he slept till almost 7:30 this morning! i woke him once to change his diaper and give him a big of calpol and a drink. i hate sick children!! yuck...just praying noah doesn't come down with the same!!

this morning he's still a tiny bit feverish, but he's had a cracker and a cookie and lots of juice (watered down). don't think we'll be going out today!

a cold and windy day!

today we missed noah doctors appointment as we weren't ready in time to catch the bus and get there by 9:50! oh why oh why did i agree to such an early appointment?? crazy me! so we went out around quarter past 11 to go to sainsbury's (the grocery store) as i am being ambitious and baking desserts for our youth group on friday night! pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate cupcakes! all from scratch! we'll see what happens!
anyway, going out we waited for the bus for oh round about 45 minutes! then when it came there was no room for our double stroller! great! so i treated myself and micah to chips and a sausage from the chippy! yummy and it was nice and hot too=)
heres a pick from when we got home!

happy december

can you believe that it is december already?? oh my gosh, where did november go? thankfully i can say i have almost all of the presents bought...just need to purchase some tins of chocolates or biscuits for some others!! oh and get something for andy!! he he =)

i purchased a little seat for noah yesterday called a baby pod! its like the bumbo seats if you have ever seen them and they are so cool =) heres a few photos of noah in his!!




in other news, andy's grandfather passed away yesterday morning. so we're waiting to hear when the funeral is and if we'll all be able to fly over.

this is a photo of a photo that we had done at olan mills! i am too lazy to get the scanner out!