my cross-dressing baby!

those who read this blog regularly may well remember this picture from earlier this year when our delightful boy put on a dress and twirled around the kitchen. unfortunately this has not been an isolated incident....

dressed as a fairy princess - this time in public!!

with proper make up on (admittedly on halloween and i didn't have any face paint so i used my industrial strength stuff)

but there is no excuse for this one! and there have been other occasions when i was not quick enough with the camera.

my baby is a cross dresser!!!!!!

english countryside

we went for a walk one sunday afternoon in october near our house and these are some of the photos. i just think we are lucky to have such beautiful countryside so close to us.

even if it has a dirty great road stuck in the middle of it... the other side is fields and meadows and streams and is great for walking in.

see! told you it was gorgeous!

the house in the middle of this photo is ours! i love the view from the top of our street, with all the trees and the church on top of the hill. love it!!

Mind the gap

i have spent this evening preparing and giving a seminary lesson, followed by watching the Relief Society general broadcast. i am filled with the love of the Lord and wanted to share my testimony that He lives! He guides us for our good and listens to our prayers. i am grateful for the many, many blessings i have and am mindful that they come from Him. i loved the idea in one of the talks from the RS broadcast to 'mind the gap'. i am suddenly aware of the gaps in my life and am determined to do better. i look forward to the day spoken of by Lucy Mack Smith and quoted by Henry B Eyring when after all we have done here to help one another, we will all sit down together in heaven. to that end i pledge myself anew to living the gospel with all my heart, might, mind and strength.
love you!

our family

check this out:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=3e6f88dc4bb5e65132264f"

Eileen Webster, beloved Grandmother

this is my gran, who died today age 87. she has been married to my grandad for 68 years and they have been together since they were 11. he fulfilled his promise to look after her all her life and he can rest assured that she knew she was loved greatly. i know she is at rest and free from any more pain, but she will be missed and it is hard to watch grandad suffer the loss of his lifelong companion. so this is in memorial to her, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
eileen webster 1921 - 2009.

blog candy from the stamp man

doesn't this look yummy!!! if you want a chance to win it check out the blog at http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com
good luck - but best luck saved for me cos i want it!!!

its finally finished!

remember the circle journal i blogged about in january? well its finally made its round trip and arrived home. here is the finished article:

some poems i knew, others are new to me. long, short, funny and profound. its beautiful and will take pride of place on my bookshelf. thanks ladies, you've done me proud. i only hope my entries in your cjs are half as good!

robin hood festival

we decided to go to sherwood forest with the skinners one day. we had seen that the annual robin hood festival was on but foolishly thought it wouldn't make much difference. how wrong we were! it was absolutely packed and we had to count kids every two minutes to make sure we hadn't lost any! but we did have lots of fun, there were so many things to see.

jugglers and musicians

this guy and his wife were experts on ways of living back then, especially how to deal with rats which ethan and josh were fascinated by!

dancers. obviously. not sure how authentic they were, but it was entertaining. the girls loved it and would have watched for hours. just goes to show the differences between them and the boys!

we saw the evil sheriff of nottingham. who was actually very obliging about posing for photos. thats obviously the side you don't normally get to see ;o)

he'd been fighting with the good guys here - but they didn't stick around to be photoed for long. much too butch and tough i suppose.

we got moved aside for these guys to pass. to be fair the man is doing quite a job pulling that thing single-handed and i'm not surprised he didn't want to hang around for long. she was just clearing the way for him with her flute.

one of the side attractions was this mutant woman with two heads and extra limbs. no, wait, its just linda and isaac. cute though!

liv couldn't resist the urge to climb a tree...

so of course ty has to copy.

there was loads going on- battles and story telling, falconry and archery. it was interesting and fun - all the more so because it was unexpected. worth another visit next year - but this time we'll go prepared!

busy summer

we've had a busy month, so here are a few sneaky peaks:



walking in southport

at the beach in skegness (yes really!)

at the coolest birthday party ever - me with a tarantula

at the same party - liv with a snake

meeting peppa and george pig

at chatsworth in the cascade

beautiful gardens at chatsworth

markeaton park pools

like father like son at markeaton

milton keynes with the kings

paddling (!!) at dovedale

walking at dovedale with the skinners

climbing trees in sherwood forest

playing in the park

sure start fun days in the park

the Galleries of Justice

the caves under Nottingham

family time on the bank holiday weekend.

if i get my act together you'll get more detail of some of this soon! we've had fun this month while the kids have been off school, but obviously not enough fun cos liv has spent the whole time counting down until she goes back to school! but we've made lots of happy memories anyway.