Party Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!

HOORAY, what a wonderful weekend it has been! We have had a weekend full of parties!! It all began with Oliver turning TWO on Friday (7th) I cannot believe that we have a two year-old, he is such a lovely boy! We had an O-themed party for him and three of his friends came to share games and food with him. Just great! In the afternoon we took Oliver out sledding in the snow that's been sticking around the past week. We also did a bit of 'jumping up and down in muddy puddles' (Peppa Pig!) Great.

Yesterday we went to Ben's work Children's Christmas party and oh my, did they look after us! A trip to see father Christmas complete with amazing present, face painting, yummy lunch boxes and snacks, bouncy castles, a balloon mannie (Scottish for man!) and lots of cool crafty things. Fab!!

And today was Oliver's favourite friend, ruby's 2nd birthday party! Yay! More cake, musical bumps and general two-year-old excitement.

Now I feel a bit deflated. I genuinely wish I could go to children's parties every day of the week :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Happy December!! We arrived here so fast, it's amazing! Well we have not succumbed and put our tree up yet (the family rule is that it can't happen until after Oliver's birthday, which is this Friday!) but it is very cold and we have snoooooooooooooooooow!

Zah now sits up well by himself and Oliver is saying more and more, things like "Close a door!" or "Oliver's green bowl!" or "More muuuush!" (mush is weetabix, by the way- Oliver has two a morning and still begs for more, while Zach has about 3/4s of one). Ben is working hard and busy at church too, helping with the youth program (activites on Tuesday evenings, lessons on Sundays).

As for me, the exciting news is that I have new slippers! The last pair died a death and I continued to wear them for months, and they were getting a health hazard! The replacement pair are VERY ugly- a cross between a dead hairy cat and a dead furry bird... but they are very snuggly and warm!!

It is a wonderful time of year! Here are some of our getting-in-the-mood recent happenings:

Reading

Wrapping

Adventuring

Sleeping

Snowing!

Finally! Batteries in my camera

It has been months since our camera has been stocked with batteries!! Now it finally is yesterday I took a few snapshots of everyday life..

Zach is on the MOVE! He rolls around so much that he can now reach every corner of a room at will:

Oliver borrowed these cool pyjamas... typical pose involving a car:

 Typical Twigger lunch- cheese toasties for all!

 Yesterday Oliver found Daddy's toy... uh oh, it was swiftly put away!

I feel pleased he is still wearing his Mr Happy top, so I think we are still safe

Zach's favourite toy: the baby gym

I said a while ago that I'd made some things for the boys rooms. Below is Oliver's cot bedding, complete with his bedtime toys- 'Baa Baa' and 'Pot-Pots'

Zach's finish Owl-y room!

So incredibly grateful

The past few days I have been feeling really quite rough, flu perhaps? Anyway, yesterday morning I put it out on facebook to see if anyone would please rescue me and take Oliver for a little while so I could rest a bit.

So many people offered to take him (thanks!) and within a couple of hours a good friend had collected him for the entire day, as well as dropped off films and lamb stew, mmm.  Ooh and honey and lemon, but that made me gag, not better, oops! Oliver returned with Ben after work, already fed and pyjama-d and had clearly had a very happy day. Later in the evening Ben went to church to help run the church youth group... and he came back with a note, tiger bread, freshly baked chocolate muffins and beef and vegetable hotpot. Wow! Then today I also got some happy post and a phone call from my Mum, so things really are good!

I am very grateful for people who just jump in and help out, especially since now all I am left with is a nasty cold... I'm not sure someone with just a cold deserves to eat specially baked muffins but it really has made my day. People really are good and have the light of Christ in them. If I were Mrs Aberdeen in some kind of beauty carnival I would say: "Thank you mankind for small and large kindnesses!"

Since we are approaching thanksgiving (and I used to live over there, hooray!) I will maintain my tradition of making a long list of all the things I am thankful for. It looks like it will be another long list this year!!

My Christmas Nippy Dip in the North Sea!

Hello! I hereby announce that this Boxing day I will be swimming in the North Sea for charity!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel cold just thinking abot. I will become fully immersed in the water and take a quick swim, even if there is ice on the top! I have chosen the charity Lyme Disease Action because one of my absolute favourite people has just had Lyme disease return for the second time in her life and I have seen the effects of it on her and her family. Please donate if you can- the cause is close to my heart! My fundraising page with more info on Lyme disease can be found here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/twiggernippydipper

Visit from Ben's family

It has been a couple of weeks since I last updated the blog but that is because we have been so busy DOING STUFF, which has been lovely!

Last Friday we drove down to Preston to visit the Temple. Our church has 140 Temples worldwide, two of them are in this country- one near London and the other in Preston. In temples, we participate in ordinances designed to join families together forever and help them return to God and we believe that the Temples are houses of God. I had a lovely time- the Temple is a very peaceful place to be, and we met up with some friends and Ben's family too while we were there. Great!

On our way back home we were followed back up by Ben's family who came stay during half term! They have three foster children staying with them and we visited castles, went bowling, went to a Halloween party, went along the seafront, walked up a local hill (Kirkhill), ate lots at pizza Hut and our favourite carvery and burned a LOT of wood and coal up in our fire (Ben's Dad declared the house freezing and since he was sleeping in there he got a bit enthusiastic with the evening fires... one day you couldn't see the room for the smoke!!) :) Good fun had by all, and the house seems a bit quiet now.

Here are some photos documenting the week:

Video of Zach's first food from a spoon!

This is for Nanna and Granddad, because their computer wouldn't let them watch the link I emailed them. Here is live footage of Zach's first mouthful of baby rice: