Last Sunday in Coventry....

Wasn't last Sunday special!

I have to rush out doing Branch President stuff but wanted to leave some photos from last Sunday.....more later

Ten in a Bed

Well not quite, but it would only take having a few pets in the house to get us to that point I'm sure!

I managed to get up early again this morning. I went back upstairs at 6am as Peter was crying, having done a few things but not all that I'd wanted. He certainly wasn't ready to get up yet, so I shoved Sarah up a bit and got into our bed with him to feed him. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep for a bit (and as everyone had gone to bed a bit late last night I figured they could all do with just a bit longer this morning). He didn't go back to sleep in the end. Come 7 o'clock I was finally downstairs with him getting him dressed and making breakfast for him and all of the other sleeping bunnies in the house. For a while there it was a bit of a squash and a squeeze with 5 in a bed that can normally hold a maximum of 3 (when it has to!) I think we must have been too sleepy to do anything about it last night. I remember waking up at one point in the night to hear very deep breathing (coming from Michael) and very small breathing (coming from Sarah I thought - she normally the first to sneak in!) Then sometime later, Sarah climbed over me and snuggled down in between us, so it had actually been Rebekah with us all that time. My gratitude this morning is for the fact that Rachel and Hannah have long since got into the habit of sleeping happily throughout the night, and Peter's mostly there too. Now we just need to wake up enough to remind Sarah and Rebekah where their beds are. :o)

A warm Christmas

Christmas for us this year ended up as a wrappedupwarminablanketstayingindoors type of Christmas. Some of us had just about shaken off our illnesses, whereas some were just getting them. So we stayed indoors and had a simple Christmas day (accompanied by our gifts from other people) and Boxing day at home (including gifts from each other). We had a candle-lit (and daylight-lit) cooked breakfast in the morning - plenty of yummy protein to help us get well! That was a treat. We also sort of saw Emma and Will and family by video conference over the internet later in the day. It was just as our Christmas dinner was ready actually, so we were pretty hungry this end, and struggling to see them because the picture quality coming in to us was pretty awful. Something to work on in the future. Mostly the girls were a bit stuck for words as they couldn't see who they were talking to. Peter however waved happily whenever he heard anyone say "hello Peter", whether he could make out a person or not. Cute little boy. It actually worked better this year taking turns on the phone because there was no distorted picture to distract anyone. It was interesting to see them all get totally animated when speaking to the same family on the telephone a week later and totally enjoying the experience!



Opening our gifts seemed for a while this year that it was going to be a bit disappointing, as it seemed to change the feeling we'd had all month as we focused on other people more than ourselves. Despite it being fun, we had really enjoyed the spirit of Christmas that came with all of the active and giving type of things we had involved ourselves in, and getting things for yourself just doesn't come close. I started to feel part way through that the children were starting to feel quite greedy and losing the enormous happiness they had enjoyed throughout the month, but it was nice to see that go in the end. We stopped after opening the gifts others had give them and saved ours for the next day. So instead of 'getting' more, they just spent some time enjoying what they had already been given, which was far more enjoyable. It was also nice to see that the gifts they valued were not expensive things. Sarah and Rebekah totally loved a little gift somebody gave them where you scratch at the surface to create a multi-coloured picture - it seemed to be their favourite. It made me kind of feel that I wished I hadn't spent anything on them ourselves but kept the money to go towards experiences - something I seem to recall considering for birthdays in the past. They received plenty, they enjoyed it all, and some gifts were things they had hoped for, longed for, and even needed, plus toys that will get an enormous amount of continued use, but the most memorable parts for all of us really are the things we enjoyed DOING together and with others. We'll see how simple we manage to keep Christmas next year! :o)







Our traditional acting out the nativity (that we ALWAYS do on Christmas day before we open any gifts) hasn't happened yet - we just weren't well enough for it not to be a chore instead of something special. This year we read the Christmas story together first instead, which I think normally happens on Christmas Eve in our house. Yes I did say "yet". Our Christmas decorations are still up for Michael's birthday (tomorrow - I may actually post this just in time!) as he likes to do. His gifts are waiting under the Christmas tree, and we'll enjoy the tree lights one more time tomorrow if I remenber to put them on! It makes the house a bit more festive really. I hadn't planned to this year - it was all going to come down along with most other people's decorations to get our house sorted before getting a few DIY jobs done, but we got ill again after Christmas too (maybe from going out in the cold too soon over Christmas?), so why not. I nearly took some down on Friday just to get the place sorted, but resisted in the end. So anyway, with decorations still up, everyone's lovely cards included, we may actually have a bit of time acting out the nativity with some friends this week. It seemed a bit strange to leave it this late, but 3 out of 4 girls are very eager to do it, and it'll be a fun thing to do anyway - they love getting dressed up and acting things out. I guess Daddy will be the donkey again, and maybe the camel (only one camel in our little production I'm afraid). Last year he looked particularly interesting as the donkey with some super ears I think he'd made from a pair of socks. :o)

It was fun to have Nanny come and stay with us for a couple of days after Boxing day, and was great for us not to have to brave the cold just yet, but continue to get well instead. It was just the extra bit of time we needed. We had our pyjama party with Nanny as planned, and the next day Nanny enjoyed some grandchildren time, and the children enjoyed some Nanny time, while Michael and I enjoyed some getting "the little room" sorted time on our own for a few hours. By the evening, the little room had finally changed into Peter's room, and he happily spent his first night sleeping in there. I'm pleased to report as well that in the last week he has had one night where he stayed asleep in there until 6.30 am (amazing) followed soon after by a couple of nights where I actually woke up and got ready the next morning before he even woke up once (I wasn't up early either). So he seems to be enjoying his sleep as much as we are enjoying ours (when Sarah and Rebekah let us). Since we got back home after Christmas they have made a renewed attempt to climb into our bed through the night, or get us up with one problem after another. Peter's sleeping well anyway!

We were really glad that Tom could come over the next day (on the Saturday), and not so glad that we hadn't been well enough to pack up ready to go to Kidderminster later in the day before he got there - we were still too much in the middle of things when he arrived despite his great effort to get out early. We did enjoy playing a game of ten-pin bowling though before Nanny and Tom between them drove us to Kidderminster (them to go home, us to go and stay with Granma and Gramps). Rachel and Hannah bowled without the use of the ramp for the first time, and Peter was so excited by these fun balls that he was just desperate to pick them up and have a go too. So he shared a few goes with me. He 'helped' me to pick the ball up (ball in my right hand, Peter in my left arm) and gave it a big hug before I bowled it down the alley. With Peter's giggly magic helping we actually got a strike and a couple of spares among the usual rolling into the gutter before reaching the end! The girls of course did much better than their Mum. They had the barriers up on their lane and Sarah and Rebekah used a ramp to roll the balls. Peter did try that once - very excitedly! Rachel and Hannah soon got the hang of it and Rachel scored in the high 90s, with Hannah reaching 101. Yay! The children really enjoyed that. I think the last time we'd been was about 18 months before, when I was expecting Peter and had to use the ramp along with the children!





















It was really nice for the children to go to Primary together in Kidderminster on the Sunday. Rebekah stayed in Primary for the first time for the whole time, as a build up to going properly into Primary in Coventry the following week. We had a lovely meal and some altogether time at Nanny's house after church too, which was nice.




























Then before bed that night we shared Christmas gifts with Granma and Gramps and they with us. There were some squeals of delight at receiving more wooden train track to allow their creations go a bit further, and everyone suddenly turned stripey. Don't they look beautiful, as well as snuggly warm? :o)














































On Monday we all went to Bridgnorth for an outing. It was the first time we have been able to walk around a town (rather than a wood, country park, etc.) without our girls minding. It must have been the novelty of being there with their grandparents I think. They certainly enjoyed themselves, as did we all. They enjoyed their trip down to the lower town in the funicular railway, and racing Daddy back up again. They thought he was mad to climb up all of those steep steps, but he won, even if he did look like he was going to fall over from doing it. He enjoyed the little challenge - couldn't pass it up. :o) It's a lovely town that looks like it should be beside the sea somewhere - fun to walk around. It's nice that we have our snowman decoration to remind us of that trip too - thank you Granma. xxx





































































That night after tea was another pyjama party, complete with popcorn and fruit. We had a lot of fun watching Bob the Builder this time. We thought Peter would enjoy this one along with us and we were right. As soon as he was finished with his popcorn and grapes, he was up and dancing to every little snippet of music he heard. That was as much fun to watch as the video itself! He has a knack of reacting to music (even in his sleep) by spontaneously conducting it or dancing to it. I guess he hears enough music through the day, as he also has the same ability that Sarah and Rachel have always had to sing things perfectly. He likes to play that game with noises of course, but also if we sing something to him he sings it right back pitch-perfect. It makes for a fun game to play with him sometimes.
























On Tuesday, Granma seemed to have caught a chill and needed to stay indoors. She helped us get to Hurcott Pools though, another place we had never been to, where we went for a lovely fresh walk with Gramps and Louise. The girls pretty much clung to Louise. We hardly ever get to see her, but they enjoy her company so much when we do. Hannah (who was named after Louise) was by her side the whole time. Sarah was our guide for the journey, and always knew which way would be the most fun and adventurous. Can you see the picture with us trying to choose which way to go (all pointing in different directions)? Guess who got to choose! When Gramps asked her to show him which way she thought we should go, she didn't bother with pointing, she just zoomed off in that direction, and we had to follow. :o) She also made the most fantastic dog alarm - having bounded off ahead, she would frantically come running back if there ever was one in sight. We saw quite a few as well enjoying a new year's day walk themselves. Not your ordinary dogs, but Red Setters, an Old English sheepdog, huskies (or similar) and the like. Hurcott Pools is obviously THE place to walk your dog! Meanwhile Peter discovered a fun game where Mummy and Daddy said "1..,2..,3..,GO!" and swung him through the air. It was too much fun to miss again, so in the best way he could he kept on and on saying "uh..,uh..,uh..,OH!" and off he would swing again. That game lasted quite a while.












We were grateful for Gramps offering to give us a lift back home to Coventry on Thursday. Only Peter and I took advantage of that offer, along with our luggage. That made it far less of a treck to get everyone else back home on the train - they were so looking forward to it that they couldn't not do it, freezing as it was!

Chaos has reigned a little as we've settled back down and battled winter illnesses a bit more since then. Rachel and Hannah have been making good use of their new recorders, and we are back to the normal adventures.

Thank you so much for your lovely gifts Mum and Dad (David, Rachael and boys too if you do read this!) Hannah especially had wanted a jewelery box for ages, and we found one in the Argos sale that was greatly reduced. So together with a bit of her savings that is what she has spent her Christmas money on, and is extremely pleased with it. Rachel, Sarah and Rebekah are all extremely pleased with theirs too, as they did exactly the same!! Thank you. Peter will love his own little Percy when I get round to ordering that for him. Thanks once again. I hope you are all well. I'll try to call again soon, and see if I can catch you at home this time.

That's it for now - it's birthday time tomorrow! Love you xxx