our newest addition to the family....

so this our new member =) isn't he cute??



we decided to get the frog for noah's first birthday. i decided though to look on ebay just by chance as they are about £30....and when i converted that to dollars?? that was way too much for a sandbox!! so ebay had 5 for sale and we found this one down in cheltenham (which was about an hours drive) but it was so worth it as it was £8!! i was way excited!

the boys are loving so far and once we get some more hot hot weather (well, hot for our neck of the woods) then i'll put some water in it too!! no sand i have decided until the boys are a wee bit older!!

also, *CONGRATULATIONS* to my friend Val (from high school) who had a baby girl this morning: jordan hallie!!!

i've finally gotten a layout finished! it feels like its been way to long!! but here are some photos from our little trip up the north antrim coast to giant's causeway!

as in other news, i am feeling a bit flu-ey. my back, neck and head all ache and my throat is a wee bit sore. well, atleast yesterday that was all true...today its just my head and just a teeny bit achy in my back and shoulders. i am still aware of my throat, but nothing like it was yesterday.

the boys are fine and so is andy. so hopefully this will pass over and no one else will get it!!!

yesterday afternoon evening was wonderful as it was sunny and beautiful!! and this morning/today has been great! though it rained just as i was putting micah down for his nap (and i had to run out and grab the clothes in), its back to being sunny now!!! maybe, just maybe the weekend will be sunny too!

so to everyone out there: have a great weekend!!!!

fresh from sleep

sailing

micah decided that these drawers were his boat and the quilt was the waters..so sailing they went! he pulled another drawer up for noah and off they went! then the flag came out and then the pirate rag on the head! what imaginations!!!

micah last night was telling me there was a snake in my bedroom, so he would go and grab it while i pretended to be scared and told him to throw it in the bathtub and then we would pull the plug and let it wash down! well by bed time, micah and thrown about 5 snakes into the tub!! i was just thankfull that they were pretend!

photo shoot

how best to practice your photography skills then to practice on your own children! we had us some fun yesterday with this! the boys were so cute in the 'hand-me-downs and hand-me-ups' from cousin luke!! so thanks luke!! *he provided micah's trousers and sweater vest and noah's sweater vest!*

baby boy

erin from TOBHtoo just delivered a baby boy!!! simon davis graff (that is if they haven't changed the middle name)! i am so excited for her and can't wait to see their photos!! how cool!!
**ok..simon weighed in at 6lbs 8oz!! a wee little guy and oh so cute!**

a new baby layout..

one of my close friends from uni and her husband had their first baby back in march. ella marie! and i have just gotten around to making something for them! i'm such a slacker...i know!!!


in other news, my friend erin that i have known since middle school, is quite possibly having a baby right now! her blog site: tale of the human baby, too *you can check out the action!! its so exciting! i think she is going to have another boy, but what do i know??

**credits for the layout** mandy's SS fresh templates, SS measuring tape, TDO, flower frame special, pink paper and white picture frame are both from designer digitals.

a weekend in belfast

sorry if we have been mia! i left on thursday night with micah and noah to take a flight over to belfast! i was a little nervous to fly on my own with both boys, but it went really well! the boys were great...no tears, no tantrums, nothing! just boisterous!
friday i was able to continue my morning walking and it was really nice! it was a bit cooler in the morning, but by afternoon it was scorching! we ended up at my SILs so that our boys could play together. there is 11 months seperating micah and luke, and luke and noah! its works out well! (so this summer we get to celebrate a 1st, 2nd and 3rd birthday!) *and a new baby too, from my other SIL*
friday night was a special meeting at the gospel hall where they go. it was their 50th anniversary! so any past and present members who could come were there where we heard the history of the hall. it was really neat to see how they have grown in the Lord.
saturday was a relaxing day for most of us. we had a nice bbq in the afternoon with all of andy's brothers and sisters and mum and dad. micah and luke had such a great time playing together, it was really fun to watch! micah is so agile compared to luke, its funny to see them running together.
saturday night was another meeting in which again, both andy and i got to go to...together! we got to 3 meetings together with valerie (mum) watching the boys 2x and karen (sil) staying at home with the 3 boys on sat night. we listened to the two jims' (hutchinson and flanigan) and it was really really good and encouraging.
sunday was a normal day, breaking of bread in the morning, a big dinner then the others were off for sunday school, while i stayed in with noah. micah went to sunday school with auntie jo and was a good boy and enjoyed it all! we were to the airport for 8 and our flight was delayed until 9:35, which was only when we boarded. once on the flight, we were surrounded by a rugby team from leamington. they were funny a wee bit course, but they enjoyed noah who is of course a charmer!
finally home just before midnight!

more from the ark

here is another picture layout from 'the ark.' there were toy tractors and *real* dirt for the *KIDS* to play with!! quite a few olders ones had fun too =)

back to easter

so i'm finally getting around to looking at and playing with photos from easter!!so these photos are from 'the ark' which is an open farm for the children to pet and feed animals from horses to cows, chickens to ducks and sheep to alpaca =) its great fun! but micah (and luke) got to ride the pony. it took micah most the day to do it,

but he did it and loved it!!! hopefully i'll get some more posted at we were a huge group and have lots of fun photos!!

its just come to my attention that i haven't posted much on what the boys are up to these days. how they have progressed and are just getting older!

noah:
*can climb up the stairs (and has done for ages) but can now climb back down as well pretty successively.
*can go down the slide on his belly, by himself.
*usually responds with the right reaction to "no, no noah"
*when told to go find micah, he does

micah:
*"what's that" is his favourite phrase, even he answers it himself
*talks a lot, mostly in sentences.
*still speaks jibberish sometimes
*still like cars, bikes and trains
*loves to watch his movies (veggie tales, peter pan, toy story and 15 puppies{101 dalmations})
*loves horses

both boys:
*do play well together
*love it when daddy comes home

did it again!

goofing off

this is fireman sam i mean micah

thanks mimi for the t-shirt and shorts
bottle time in micah's thomas chair
and mr noah, as cute as can be

was up and walked this morning, though not for as long, but still about 45 minutes i think. i didn't have a watch with me today so walked until i thought was about an hour. i went a different way and it included a big hill so that should make up for the time =)

its a bit wet this morning as it just rained a bit last night and maybe into the night. so i guess i can be off laundry duty today! just some more tidy-up sessions and i need to go into harborne as well. today at sainsbury's they aren't giving away any plastic bags so i am imagining a cloth bag or just one of their bags for life...so i thought i'd check it out!

have a good day =)

pleased

i just wanted to write and say that i am pleased with myself. yesterday i decided that i would get up at 6 this morning and go for a walk for 1hour while andy holds down the fort. i mulled it over, told andy in the evening and he said good! so before bed i made sure the volume was turned up on the alarm as i never hear it, i set my clothes in the bathroom and was in bed for 10!

the children mostly cooperated and noah woke once but briefly and i had a good nights rest. 6:07 i finally heard the alarm and was straight up, dressed, teeth brushed, found andys watch and set of by 6:15!! it was a cool and crisp morning, beautiful to be out with the birds singing away. it was really great. though i was beat, 30 minutes into it, i still did the whole hour and enjoyed it!

i feel refreshed and energized. so if you see me or talk to me, ask me if i am still walking in the morning as i think i really need the time alone and of course, i really really need the exercise!!!!
(just a note for my mom, i've also vacuumed the whole lounge, pulling out the couches and picking up and everything! now i just have to do under the cushions!!!)

too funny

i've just thought it was awfully quiet in the back room where micah had disappeared to and went to check it out. i thought i knew how i would find him, but knew that he really could be into anything! well, i was right. he had climbed into the stroller about 15 minutes ago and i had given him a book and threw a blanket over the whole stroller, just to have fun. he uncovered himself and said peek-a-boo and we giggled. but i came back here to the computer to finish an email! and he actually stayed there and is now sounds asleep!! yippee! noah is actually sleeping to at the moment! so happy me =)

today is our first overcast, rainy day is over 3 weeks! but its not raining at the moment, so we will go out front and kick the ball around in the street! i promised =) hope everyone is doing well that reads this! i haven't had many comment lately (hint hint) and would love to hear from anyone and everyone! ANYONE can leave a comment (rhonda, jen, naomi and anyone else!).

THANKS =)

how time flies

this week has really flown by! the first day was hard with andy back at work as micah was almost constantly asking for daddy! the concept of work and daddy wasn't clicking! tuesday we went to the baby clinic and had noah weighed...25lbs! wowzers!! micah is only 28lbs. noah is catching up a bit too quickly! from the doctors we went to the grocery store as we had notta thing in the house! thankfully sheila was meeting us there and taking us home =) it was a big shop!

wednesday we met up with some friends at the bull ring. and the same actually on thursday. both were gorgeous days so it was nice and fun! friday was my cleaning day...since i had been just ignoring everything while working on wedding photos! i've been trying to put in an hour a day and then i got about 2-3 hours yesterday and it was really good. i am progressing, but not very quickly it seems! hopefully will be finished this next week with that.

once i am done, i'll put up a short slide show of my favs!

Dunluce Castle

although we have been there loads of times now, i never get tired of it! here are 2 photos from there =)

Check out my Slide Show!

well we are finally home sweet home, once again! we left belfast at 12 friday afternoon and arrived home just after 10:30pm. so not too bad, a lot easier than i expected! the ferry ride was great as it had a wee children's room with winnie the pooh playing on the tv! the boys slept through the whole of scotland and woke up in time for dinner just outside of carlisle, england. unfortunately, the road chef where we had dinner, only had 1 waitress and 1 cook! so service was slow, but relaxing anyway =)
noah had his milk not too long into the drive and was out the rest of the night! micah watched peter pan and little joe then was out for the count as well. andy and i stopped once for a bathroom break and that was all!

our second week was great. sunday, monday and tuesday was the easter conferences where we saw lots of people and met some new people. but most importantly we heard reports from missionary's who came from abroad and those who work here in the UK. as well as ministry meetings in the evenings and the gospel meeting to end it all.

Some Recent Photos

The happy couple Keith and Adele.

Last Friday Andy went to the driving range with his brother Simon.

Instead of the US Masters, they said it was more like 'Us Wasters'

Good Friday, we went to Delamont Country Park for a picnic.
We spent the afternoon in the play park which Micah really enjoyed. We took both Micah and Noah for a ride on a miniature train and Gigi (their great granny - Andy's mum's mum) bought everyone ice cream.

Easter Hols So Far

Using my brothers laptop. He and his wife, Esther live in Lisburn and I've spent day with them. Janelle has been shopping (horror!!!) with my sister Jo in centre of Belfast. She's looking for scrapbooking material.
We arrived in Belfast Monday afternoon having taken the weekend to drive up through England and across Scotland to the ferry.
Travelled from home to Preston Friday evening without hardly any hold up which is quite remarkable!! Stayed in TravelLodge 2 nights. Friday night was quite trying as Noah woke in the middle of the night and wouldn't settle for ages.
The wedding of our friends Keith and Adele went well. The weather was lovely as it has been ever since we left - I even had shorts on today. The service was good although I didn't get to hear a lot of it as Micah wasn't in a good mood and wouldn't sit still. In the end I took him for a drive and he fell asleep. We were doing the official photographs, and took over 600. We are very pleased with the results, and can't wait until they are developed.
Sunday morning we drove as far as Morecambe and went to a gospel hall there for the rbeaking of bread which was interesting with both boys. There were 5 older people there to remember our Lord, and I'm sure they thought a whirlwind has arrived although they were very pleased to see us and told us not to worry. After the meeting we drove through the Lake District slowly, stopping at various points. Then into Scotland, we arrived at an old peoples care home, where we stayed for the night. Strange, but very good.
The home is owned by some friends and they keep some rooms on the first floor for non-residents. The home is in an old castle like home, and we had the main lounge all to ourselves in the evening, and got to watch some old favourites on Sky - Top Gear and Everybody loves Raymond, and Janelle started to watch a Jane Austin movie Persuasion.
In the morning we had the most delightful breakfast of scrambled eggs and chatted with Doris!
We had some hours before we had to be at the ferry, so we took time to sightsee through the Scottish Lowlands. Absolutely beautiful!! Micah and I climbed up a small mountain which was fun.
Arriving in Belfast we've taking things easy. Tuesday just went to Forestside Shopping Centre in afternoon. Wednesday we went to the beach at Crawfordsburn. Thursday went to zoo, which brings us back to today.
Now it gets hectic, with other friends arriving from England throughout the next few days for short visits. Pictures of all this to follow in due course.

4got to say

noah is doing much better! ate 2 meals yesterday, had breakfast and lunch today. no throwing up and hardly any diarhea. after his nap this afternoon he had a *normal* dirty nappy! was nice to see =)

good bye for 2 weeks =)

so...clothes are almost all packed. dishes are almost all washed up. so i just need to finish the kitchen and get non-clothes items packed and all together. we went into town this morning to pick up and return some stuff. left the house at 9:15, a record for us! and got home at half 12. which was a lot longer that i had planned, but have no idea why it took that much time! oh well.

andy has had an easy week this week. well fairly easy anyway! tuesday they spent most the day in stratford-upon-avon.
and thursday the *whole* school went to the cinema to see, *meet the robinsons* must be nice eh? so i am hoping that he comes home right after school today so that we can get this ball rolling!

i thought i'd leave you all with a few photos since there probably won't be much in the next 2 weeks!!!

need to pack, need to pack, need to clean...

ack! why is there always so much to do before leaving for holiday?! oh my goodness! am trying to finish up the laundry. with no dryer it is going painstakingly slow. but got a lot done yesterday as it was warm and sunny. today? cold and spitting with rain now and then!

took noah to the doctors, she said there is a lot of this going around and just to keep up with what we are doing. if he gets a bit worse, take away dairy products and go back after the weekend. but so far today, he's had a bit of the Dword that i can't spell, but (don't read if you are squirmish) its getting a bit thicker *though it looks like mustard with the seeds in it!*

he also ate his whole lunch of mashed potatoe with cheese and baked beans! so hooray for that =) he hasn't thrown up since lunch yesterday and has been still sleeping well =)

as for my shop *located over there on the left* someone (probably my mom) has made the first purchase!! so i am officially in business =) i made a private shop as well for my mom with photos of the boys just for her enjoyment!

well, we are off tomorrow to preston for a wedding saturday. sunday travelling up to dumfries in scotland to spend the night before catching the ferry over to larne then drive down to belfast! yippee


these photos are from a walk we took after dinner on monday night! it was such a nice week (up until today!)

well..

thought we were going to have a good day, as the first diaper from noah was only wet! no diarhea! but lo and behold, i heard the noise! so i changed his diaper, again. then a little while later, another, bigger noise sounded from that general direction!! so i changed his nappy *AGAIN*

then, i went out back to hang up the laundry and had closed the door so no boys could come out. well noah crawled up to the door and playing with the lock. there are 2 knobs, above and below the actual key lock and he can reach the bottom knob and ofcourse, twisted it... which means, *he locked me out*!!! i didn't know what to do! so i knocked and knocked and knocked until about 10 minutes later, micah finally came into the room and i was able to get him to untwist the knob and let me in. phsew =) i wasn't getting worried as i knew he'd be able to do it, but noah was getting upset!

then i went upstairs to get more laundry to wash and noah started crying. when i came back downstairs, he had thrown up all over himself and the floor! poor noah! he had found a piece of celery that he had been chewing on yesterday and tried to eat that. that's what brought on the vomit...so while its still yuck, i am hoping that its not this virus or whatever and just yucky food =)

*i added some more merchandise to the shop!*

just playing

i feel good! i had my legs waxed tonight *finally* and i am sitting here in a silent house, all boys *big and small* are sleeping, i am drinking a double chocolate mocha, watching *hitch* and working on my photos for my shop!!! please if you have a look at it (its on the left there *cafe press*) let me know what you think or what i can add, photo wise. ones that you remember or just a different way to present them?

just doing some more playing around! i downloaded some actions that frame your photos ready for the web....saves some time that's for sure =)

noah

these are from a week or 2 ago that are just so cute! this was just after his bedtime bath and before his bottle, hence the wet hair and bib over his jammies!! but i just love his curls and big round face!! he reminds me so much of pictures of my brother as a baby!!

almost ok

noah is a bit better. thanks for everyones concerns/comments. still not 100% though. as of right now, he does not want to be left to sleep on his own... he has been awake for the most part since 4:30 and it is now 11:15! *HELP*

we had a good day today though, went to the shops around 11, after stopping in the park to play. micah walked most of the time but would ride on the buggy board when i asked him to. (*by the way, i bought a buggy board last week! he he..i forgot to mention that!) if you don't know what the buggy board is, it is a place for micah to stand inbetween me and the stroller. so he can rest a bit if he is getting too tired or for mysake so i can go a bit faster!

now for the fun part! on the left is a link to an online shop where you can buy cards, postcards, calendars and prints and a hundred other things. well, that link will go directly to *my* own page with *my* photography on it!! i thought i would give it a go and see what happens.. i.e. if anyone buys anything and i make any money from it! it only has a few photos on it so far, so i'll be updating as i go. its only for US customers thus far, not my choice...sorry! but its under the name, *charis photography* which is what our photography business will be called, when it is up and running!!!

i have a wedding on saturday for my friends keith and adele up in preston in lancashire! am very excited/nervous as usual but looking forward to it all =) will have andy, micah and noah in tow, so it will be interesting if anything!!!

then we are away to belfast for almost 2 weeks, so don't expect much on here as i have said before, my in-laws computer is super duper slow! =)

***edited to say that cafe press does ship internationally!! so my friend say who also has a shop for toddler/baby items: baby stuff that speaks for itself*****