Happy Birthday Noah!

Good morning birthday boy!!
opening birthday cards...big brother helping birthday boy to open presents
reading the cards as big brother doesn't care about them!

opening another pressie....
mommy trying to get it out of the boxgetting sung to (sorry for closed eyes...)

enjoying mommy's cooking

its fun to smash as well as eat!

sorry to say...

that while micah slept through the night with minimal coughing, noah this afternoon has a fever. so he's had one dose of calpol and hopefully that will help bring it down and he too won't get croup! what a way to celebrate a first birthday (tomorrow)!!

which by the way, anyone who has been wondering, we are going to celebrate on the 23rd of june when my mom and dad are here (they are coming in 2 weeks!!!!!!!). so no definite plans though for a party, it may just be a family thing. not sure though!

here are some photos since i don't have any from yesterday or today. these are from a few saturdays ago we went for a late afternoon drive. this is at a church yard in handbury. its beautiful country out there!!

heres a photo of micah in the tall grass..no smile as he lost his tennis ball somewhere in that grass! *which we did find*

and here is micah trying to hide from teh church bells that were ringing! he didn't like them at all!! but the view was gorgeous and andy and i enjoyed it!

micah has...

the CROUP! i didn't even realize it still existed. oh well. they gave him some calpol once he was seen by the nurse to reduce his fever and then at midnight they gave him some steroids to calm the inflamation on the larnyx i believe it is. so they finally got home at 3:30am and straight to bed for micah. he slept with me and andy slept in micah's bed. he (micah) slept through the night no porblems with hardly any coughing.

please say a little prayer...

*i should have posted this last night...SATURDAY*
micah woke up with a barking cough this morning. it was really worrying and was along with a fever. though withing 30 minutes, it had calmed down and he was asking for a biscuit and was playing and laughing with us. just this evening the bark returned with the fever. we put him to bed as normal, gave him some calpol to reduce the fever too. but when andy went up 2 hours later, he was really really hot and starting to bark more. i've never been near or have heard the whooping cough, but that is when it makes me think of....all i have read or seen is from books and anne of green gables.

so andy has just taken micah to the childrens hospital as they have an A&E (accident and emergency)....

will update tomorrow morning as will probably be too tired to write anything tonight... *THANKS*

and on a side note, noah received his first *1st birthday* birthday card!

and noah received his first haircut!! it was so long in the back...now he's like a big boy! just in time for his birthday!!

gone to boston...

...england. it was a beautiful day in boston!! not much to do, but hey, i can now say i have been to boston!!

a day out and amounting costs.....

spent tuesday afternoon in worcester. it was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

andy has this week off (half term) and we've enjoyed having him home with us!! we haven't done too much...but we are sure spending loads of money =( our boiler needs to be almost replaced. to be fixed its like almost £700 and to be replaced with the newer ones that are more economical...£2,400! so yeah, we are just getting it fixed. neither of which we can afford, but have come to the point where we can't pretend its ok.

just some photos

3 photos to share. the one noah on the left is from last weekend when he wasn't feeling

well. notice the red rimmed eyes? he had conjunctivitis. runny nose and fussiness. yuck. hope everyone is well. the weather here is nice. yesterday very warm and sunny today overcast yet dry and bright.

a day in photos

it turned out to be a beautiful and a very hot day today! we had a few places to run to and our friend sheila and her blue car were our transport! if not, i would have only of done one of the stops...maybe!

so you can see that the frog who is now *freddie frog* is still popular! i had trouble getting both boys on freddie at the same time as micah had fun falling off!

we went to cadbury world so that i could buy some chocolate for my friend melissa...so if you are reading this mel, it is on its way! cadbury world is always wonderful! i can't wait for the summer time as we are making a trek there with a big group of people =)

i was pleased with myself as i got sheets and one quilt out on the line today!! yippee =) go me! tomorrow if the weather is the same i'll try again as i want to wash micah's *cars* quilt, as i washed the sheets yesterday.

also mimi if you are reading this, notice that micah and noah are *both* wearing the outfits you sent last week. and they are *both* 18m..i.e. they were both intended for noah i believe! but micah fit them too!!! the shorts were a bit on the short side as was the shirt i guess, BUT it was cute! so there you go!!

those are new shoes on micah as his 'thomas' shoes stank. bad. we had washed them but as we have no dryer at the moment they were out on the line and now smell mildew-y!! these were only £8 at NEXT, so affordable!

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!!