Fireworks with the Leahs

Haircut

 Phineas adores having his haircut at Amy's Barbers because not only does he get to sit in a Batmobile to have it cut, they then spike it like a dinosaur, or a shark depending on his mood!  He is getting so grown up and starts school in 2 weeks!! I will miss him so much, though the house will probably stay a bit tidier!

Counting those blessings

This will be a quick one, I am reaping the consequences of having a busy weekend and I NEED my bed!
Sunday:
1. A working car that gets us to Church safely, and keeps us warm on a foggy and damp Sunday morning
2. A Primary president who listens to her counsellors and prays about her decisions...how different my Church life is from 12 months ago!
3. A son and a husband who share their testimony so freely, they are a great example to me.

Monday:
1: Watching Downton Abbey; life just seemed so much simpler back then *sigh* though I am sure I would have been a servant.
2: Spending the afternoon with Phineas at toddlers and having nothing else to do than follow wherever his whim takes us.
3: The new profile function on ancestry.co.uk.  No more trying to work out a person's time line in my head.  It is all there in context. Brilliant!

Blessings

I don't know if this is true, but seems like it is a good idea, and perhaps it will prompt me to being more regular with my prayers.  So let us begin. Top of the list of blessings has to be family, but not just my own immediate family.  This last week we have intentionally kept our home as quiet as possible, we haven't invited anyone over and we haven't looked after anyone's children/ dogs/ accounts etc.  I enjoy the visitors we do get, but Lewis and I decided we deserved a break.  It has been lovely to enjoy a week with our children, going out every now and then, but having our home as a sanctuary for us.  Not only have we been able to spend quality time together in our no so little family, we have also spent time with our extended family having a lot of fun!

I had a lovely time hanging out with my cousins Abbie, Jess and Nic. We played a quiz, and then countdown (do you love the countdown clock?) My favourite part of the evening was walking in to find all three of them colouring in Day of the Dead sugar skulls to decorate Abbie's car for the Land of The Remembered activity I have organised at Church for this evening (Hallo'ween) I felt very touched that they had taken time to support the activity.

We also spent time with the Munday family en mass for Fran's 64th birthday.  Nobody plays party games like these people! I laughed so hard my cheeks were aching!

So my number one blessing is family.  I love them.

Throwback Thursday: Graduation

I am glad I have finally scanned this photo in as it has become very battered over the years (I can assure you that Lewis's shirt was spotless that day!) This was a very proud day as we sat and watched Lewis graduate from his PCSO training. 

Throwback Thursday

I'm not really sure how old I was in this picture, but I do know this was already my second time as a bridesmaid, I was a popular choice!  My first time was for my Auntie Yvonne and Uncle Mick, I wore a really cute little pink dress. Second time, pictured above, was for my Auntie Sue and Uncle Paul and I have only just sent the very top of this dress to be recycled! I wore it to death for when I was younger and have since taken bits of material off it until just the frill was left.

My third time as a bridesmaid was for my Auntie Melanie and Uncle Kevan, who just celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary. I had a little white dress then, and their were quite a few bridesmaids, though only two were in white. I remember my Mum wore a grey hat that we called the Frisbee because it kept being blown off her head and was just the right shape to fly quite aerodynamically across the church yard. I don't think Mum was very amused, but we were. It was quite a big wedding with all the pomp and ceremony, including the traditional chimney sweep to wish the couple luck...obviously that has worked well!

My fourth time was for my Mum's cousin (I think) Louise and I had another blue dress. I don't really recall much about that day except that I was annoyed it was another blue dress!

My fifth time was for my step dad Mark's sister Sian and Iain. Another big wedding.  This wedding was the reason that I refused to have a photographer at both of my weddings. Bottom line: don't try and photograph me when I am hungry!! Martin-from-school was at this wedding, and I remember feeling quite embarrassed that someone from school had seen me in this stupid pink poofy dress (even though secretly I loved poofy dresses!) 

All but one of these couples are having long, happy marriages so I figure I must have been a fairly good luck charm for all of them!!!

Family Hands Bunting

We have had a really great time creating this bunting for Phineas's bedroom with a friend of mine who has started a business called 

Family Hands

Basically we printed our hand prints on to bunting and she turned the prints in to really cute animals! I must confess I really thought about doing this myself, but I am so glad I asked Sam to do it for us, because she has a real talent. Planning on getting her back to do some quilt squares :)