Nathan's Birthday

Nathan is the big 7 now!  He LOVED his birthday presents!  He tore the wrapping paper off with such gusto, it just made me grin.  It's always nice to be rewarded with lots of "Oh wows" on birthdays, especially as we try and make their birthdays the time we fuss over them rather than at Christmas so we can focus on the "reason for the season." 

Nathan LOVES to bake, as I am sure I have mentioned before, and he chose to back his cake again this year.  His school friends got to enjoy his efforts today, and all reports were good.  Grandma has even requested that Nathan bake her cake next year!

Phineas is 1!

A year has flown by and now our little bundle of joy is walking...and climbing up everything (including over the side of his cot!) He has been HARD work, and I'm not sure if it was because we had a gap between Phineas and Nathan or because we are older now, but boy have we felt it this time!  For me, he is just getting to a wonderful age, where every day is about discovering new things, yesterday I taught him how to "moo" and "baa"! 

So Happy Birthday little guy, you turned our lives upside down but we are very grateful to have you as part of our family!

http://www.manicmundays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/here-at-last.html

Happy Halloween

 We made ghosts with glue and shaving foam...

 We made Mummy candle jars...

 Trick or Treating was just hard work for some!

Handsome Munday Men

I think we have a picture of each of the boys the first time they wore a suit to Church.  This 3 piece suit makes an already cute Phineas look like "a boss" (in Lewis's words)

From the age of 15ish I have had a crush on Lewis (that's around half of my life) and every time I take his photo, I swoon inside!  To me, he looks more handsome every day. 

Go big or go home space station

Can you gues what Nathan's latest obsesion is??

Emma vs the Breadmaker

So far my record with the bread maker is terrible, unedible, disgusting...
However, my attempts have been those of a frantic Mum done through a haze of kid stuff.  Therefore, I have decided to actually try and apply myself in an almost scientific way, during the slower paced half term, to finally find a recipe that truly works, that means I can still throw all the stuff in while in the midst of the every day frenzy that is school term life and it will not be a disappointment at the end!
Let's start from the very beginning, with the original Morphy Richards recipe for a basic 11/2 lb loaf
1 1/4 cup of water
2  1/2 tbsp of skimmed milk powder
2  1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
2  1/4 tbsp  sugar
1  1/4 tsp of salt
3 cups of strong bead flour
1  1/4 tsp yeast

Fingers crossed!

General Conference

I LOVE to sit and listen to General Conference, though I have to admit it has taken a while for me to feel this way about General Conference.  The difference is that we now watch it at home.  I know that some of my family feel very strongly about attending Church to watch General Conference, but it is so nice to not have to rush out of the door and travel to Scunthorpe.
Having said all that, it has been really tricky this Sunday.  Lewis is on lates, which never helps, but I have also had a stampede of people through the house.  Each welcome, but have left me feeling emotionally and physically drained.  It seems that every time I sat down someone or something demanded I got up.  What I have managed to listen to however, has been wonderful.  Particularly President Uchtdorf's comments...but no surprise there as he is my favourite shhhh!

The Deep August 2013

 Esaias and the very pregnant Sting Ray.  She has stretch marks...that made me feel better!

 Phineas is finding Nemo!

 Caitlin in the discovery corner.

Nathan having his very long list of questions answered by one of the lovely staff members at the Deep...the kids is like an information sponge!

Lifestyle 2013

Summer is over and the children and I are all back to school.  My most favourite day of our first week back was the day when the staff were shown around the school arena by Caitlin and one of her friends who took part in Lifestyle with her.  The exclamations of "Wow", was all it took for me to know that the long and exhausting hours the kids and I and several others have put into this project was totally worth it!

It has taken an awful lot of work!

 Youth and leaders from the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came down one evening to lend a hand.  It was honestly like watching a plague of locusts (but in a good way!) sweeping across the arena putting the finishing touches on everything.

 Caitlin and Neil worked for around 5 hours to take the pond from looking like this...

 To this!!  Amazing isn't it?  

I stood back on that day and just looked out at the water and felt really calm and I knew that THAT is exactly what we were trying to give the school children.  A place of calm and peace. 

Definitely worth it :)

Nathan paddling

After Caitlin had competed in her events, the canoe club very kindly let Nathan have a go in one of their canoes.  He had a wonderful time paddling around the River Ancholme, while Caitlin darted around him in her kayak.  Caitlin came 2nd in her age group and it really was sheer bad luck that she didn't get a clear round.  She is wonderfully talented!

Baysgarth Park

BBQ

For each of the May bank holidays we ended up having impromptu BBQs for the Munday family, and so we decided to actually put some organisation in and have one for the August bank holiday in celebration of Oliver's 17th birthday.
I can't believe that is our 3rd BBQ on a bank holiday and we have once again had great weather for it!

 Birthday Boy!

 My nephew, Jacob.

 Esther, my niece.

 Abbie and Jessi showing us how it's done!

 My brother-in-law Simon, minus the extensive beard he grew for the British Pageant!

And a cheeky little boy!

Pink Pig

We had a lovely visit to the Pink Pig Farm last Thursday.  Phineas enjoyed playing in the hay bales and was scooping as much hay towards his mouth as he could in a desperate attempt to eat it!! I guess it looked appealing!  We had great fun with the Pig Whizzer, which showered us with water, and I made a mental note to take the children back one hot day with swimming costumes.  At the end of the day they are Lincolnshire children born and bred (aside from Esaias who was born in Bolton, but still Lincs bred!) and so I had no qualms in explaining to them that the sausages we bought were made from the pigs running around the fields.  I had a whole speech planned about treating animals with respect and so on, but they just accepted this as fact and carried on.  

Lifestyle

Caitlin and Neil clearing the pond.  I am not ready to reveal pictures of the finished project, but it looks AMAZING!

Phineas kept a watchful eye on all of the workers!

Camping in Pip and Chris's garden

Phineas and Caitlin

Cycling lessons with Daddy

50 Holiday ideas

I have put together a list of ideas for the children to do over the summer holidays.  I have no doubt that piece of paper will get lost so I figured I would put it on here to!  As we do these I will try and remember to put pictures and instructions on!

1. Tin foil clothes
2. Shaving foam painting 
3. Make up a play shop
4. Spend as much money as you can on Tesco online (without checking out of course!)
5. Conservatory camp out
6. Den building
7. Angry bird catapults
8. Picnic
9. Mummy McDonalds
10. Waiter/ Waitress for Mum and Dad
11. Hide and Seek
12. Art exhibition
13. ABC scavenger hunt
14. Baking bread bun-nies
15. Photography challenge
16. Plan a trip
17. Curry night
18. Bubble bath
19. Baby game
20. Cardboard craft
21. Car wash
22.  Bird feeder
23. Table mat
24. Crown making
25. Pizza making
26. Wii night
27. Movie night
28. Planting
29. Biscuit making
30. Scrapbooking
31. Baby book
32. Holiday diary
33. Volcano
34. Library challenge
35. Find a new park
36. Mystery tour
37. Story map
38. Family Tree
39. Mini Garden
40. Book review
41. Music composition
42. Paper planes
43. Flag making
44. Play dough
45. Bubbles
46. Treasure Hunt
47. Hopscotch
48. Outdoor chalk
49. Skip
50. Bike ride

Mothers who Know

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2007/11/mothers-who-know?lang=eng

I always loved the talks given by Julie B. Beck, but as I read through this one for my lesson prep, I was given the answer to a prayer I have carried in my heart.  The answer was this, "wise mothers who know are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most."

I know that I have very limited strength, and I know that I have to limit my own commitments BUT I am terrible at actually putting this in to practice.  However, when I read this talk, my priorities fell in to place.

Thank you Sister Beck!

Handsome boys

I stepped out of the door last Sunday and looked at Esaias and Nathan as they walked alongside me to the car, and I just had to take a picture and reflect on how blessed I am to have such handsome, healthy and smart boys.

 How beautiful is this bench? Caitlin and I found it while on a walk.  I can't believe such a beautiful bench has been allowed to get all covered in weeds...Lifestyle project 2014 I think!

 Phineas enjoyed his second haircut and looks much better for it!  He also started to cut his 3rd tooth through yesterday.  He is getting so big, so fast!

And finally, Caitlin spent this morning making a bug hotel at school for her Lifestyle project.  I am so glad the hot weather held off this morning so we could get plenty done without melting!