January to May 2013

Where has the time gone? I am actually a bit scared because time just keeps whizzing past!!

So that I don't forget or miss things out, I'll just add a bunch of pictures to remind us what we've been up to.

  

 

 January

Daddy and Heather made a Gingerbread House one morning when I had a fabulous long lie (thanks Ian)

 

Ok, this next pictures is really weird - and it's not photo-shopped or anything. Heather got a face sticker set from Santa (the idea is that you stick features on blank faces to make funny looking people). Heather thought it would be funny to stick them on herself - I helped with the eyebrows), It was just too funny so we had to take a picture!

Heather and Evan had fun for almost 40 minutes with a baking tray, some flour and some utensils...note to self - will use this on rainy days!

Heather has a reward/ consequence system we call the' star-jar'. When she is good, helpful or kind, she a pom-pom (if she is naughty then one is removed). The aim is to fill the jar and earn a treat for herself. It actually works! For her first full jar she earned herself a Merida dress. Evan wanted in on the action too and so had a turn with the cape...it was like a scene from 'Dungeons and Dragons' !

Beecraigs Country Park

A winter walk at Beecraigs Country Park. We were wrapped up from top-to-toe and we were still freezing. The walk only lasted about 25 minutes then we quickly retreated to the warmth of the car! Before we did though, we enjoyed watching the ducks slipping on the ice and falling through the cracks in the ice. Funny for us...not so much for the ducks!

Ian isn't smiling because he was so cold and telling me to hurry up!





The icy lake at Beecraigs

  

February

Briarlands

Yet another freezing cold day. We met up with our good friends the McGaugie's and Caley's for a fun day out at Briarlands. (we were the only people there!) The bouncy pillows were a hit as always but I really had a hard time accepting that it had it had to be done without shoes on - it was so cold and wet. By the end, most of us were bare foot as our socks were soaked. Oh yeh, the Steel family had forgotten their spare socks...ooops!

 

 
 
 


Becca, Ben and Heather having fun on the bouncy pillows

 

 Evan looking like he should be part of the RNLI...now where is that lifeboat?

 

 

Abbie and Evan

 

Fun in the tractors and cars

 

 

 

 

 

Excited by my new willies!

Playing in the garden in my new willies!

  I love that he gets more excited with every picture. Evan smiling for all his worth!

March

Grampa's Birthday

All the grandchildren (minus Alec who was sleeping down at the farm). Hannah and Granny had made cupcakes for Grampa's Birthday. This was the moment that they were all going to help him blow out the candles - Hannah didn't want a false start and so restrained David!

 The gorgeous girls.

 

 Balloon fun!



Grampa had to get back to the animals so we all jumped at the chance to take a quick peek at the new lambs and calves.

My beautiful boys

 

 

 

 The newest additions to the farm

April

Heather received her Book Bug bag from Nursery and got to work straight away drawing a self portrait on the art book. I am amazed at how good her drawings are - all of a sudden she went from drawing squiggles and lines to drawing people! Well done, wee one!


Ooooo, she also copied her name onto the book.

Easter Bonnet time

I knew there was a reason that we needed a glue gun (not just for gluing pool noodles into Willy Wonka lollipops!)Daddy was in charge of the hot glue gun (I had a quick turn and managed to burn my finger)

Evan had fun and tried to join in but, I'll be honest, he just ate the tissue paper)

 

 

Easter Sunday

 The eggs and treats arrived from Granny and Grampa

 

Heather tried to eat her little egg - she is the only child I know that doesn't like chocolate (with the exception of a Kit Kat)

It didn't take long for Evan to get the chocolate everywhere.


We went to the Falkirk Wheel on Easter Sunday to join in with the fun things. There was a treasure hunt, face painting, cookie decorating, animals and other stuff too (I can't remember them all) This was H decorating her cookie.

 

Painting pots & planting seeds

 

Another fun evening in the Steel house. We bought some little pots from the garden centre and decorated them with paint, glitter, stickers and little wooden bugs. The next day we planted sunflower seeds in them. Sadly, I have to report, none of the seeds made it.  Partly because of the weather and partly because Evan kept tipping them out.

 

 

 

 

Muiravonside Country Park

 

A sunny Sunday (still a freezing one though - when is Spring/ Summer coming?) and we took ourselves to Muiravonside to see the animals. Daddy had fun taking pictures - some arty shots. I guess it is a bit of a 'busman's holiday' for him.

 

 

Happy Heather. A rare shot of H when she is smiling - she's not a fan of having her photo taken.

 

 

 Big Pigs


 

 

Spring cake decorating

Rory, Ben, Abbie, Eleanor (she was sleeping), Evan and Heather doing some cake decorating.

 

 

 

Rory

Ben having loads of fun eating the icing.

Little sister Abbie had fun too - check out the very purple mouth

Heather demolished several cakes (all children were on a sugar high for most of the afternoon...sorry Becca and Claire)

 Evan "look Mum, no hands!"

 

 

 

May

Granma's 65th Birthday

 We had a little tea party at Granma's house for her 65th Birthday. There was party food, cake, singing and some disguises!

Cam (the oldest grandchild) sporting his disguise


Granma opens her parcels

 I love that Granma can't hide her excitement (now I know where I get it from)

When I took these photos, I thought they were really good. That was until I uploaded it and realised that Evan has a mouthful of crisps!

Jenny and Heather - the giggly girls

Daddy turns 40!!

For Ian's BIG Birthday (as I like to call it) we had several plans.

Instead of a cake for his 40th, Ian wanted 40 doughnuts from Krispy Kreme...well, they only sell them in dozens SO we had to buy 48!!!!!

Saturday 4th May
So, at 8.30am, Heather and Ian went through to Edinburgh to buy a whean of doughnuts. H went in her jammies (this made her very excited).

We had a family lunch with the Steels at Scott's in Troon. It was lovely and all 5 kids were really great - we kept them busy with colouring in, stickers and (my final weapon) glow in the dark necklaces!

After the lunch, we went back to the farm for cake. Granny did NOT disappoint! Oh, we also brought a dozen doughnuts. Elasticated waistbands would have been a good idea.

Ian and Heather had picked up some Krispy Kreme hats and balloons in the morning. Granny added some note pads, pens and tea towels to complete the waitress looks. The girls had so much fun taking tea and coffee orders and then running through to Granny in the kitchen with the order.

 

 

 

Here comes the cake!

 

 

 

Auntie Janice and baby Alec

 

 

 

In the evening, the Fulton-Bournes and the Rices came over for take away and doughnuts.

Sunday 5th May
Child free for 2 days! Ian and I headed off to Gleneagles. We were booked in for afternoon tea followed by a relaxing dinner and a lazy night drinking cocktails in the bar. Next morning we stuffed ourselves silly at the fabulous buffet breakfast (incredible) and then headed to the Spa for most of the day. It was BLISS!

Happy Birthday to the best husband in the whole world. I know I am so lucky to have you and I love you endlessly. xxx

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you cards

I am a big fan of handwritten Thank You letters.

I think it's really important to write a thank you note if you have been given a gift - even if it's just a few lines. I am determined that this will be something that my wee ones do as they grow up.

So, on Christmas morning as the kids unwrap their parcels, I write down what they received and who it was from. I then love getting to go to the shops to find the coolest wee note cards to send on their behalf. However, this year, I didn't get the chance to go card shopping...very sad!

So I turned to Pinterest for some printable ones. Instead, I got a cool idea to try out.  Unfortunately,as you'll see in the photos, Evan wasn't that keen to pose.

Christmas catch up...and Boxing Day Bash

I have been so busy with work that I haven't had the time to post our Christmas pictures - how can it be the end of March?

Christmas Day

The day started quite early - Evan woke around 6.30am but unbelievably we had to waken Heather.
Heather had the job of bursting through the living room wrapping paper to see if Santa had been. It was very exciting (I think I was most excited though).

As the kids opened their parcels, we noticed that Heather was a little quiet - she seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. After excitedly opening up her Merida 'Brave' doll she paused and then said that we had to give it back to Santa because it wasn't on her list...Ian and I could have cried; it was so cute.

Checking if Santa has been 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evan managed to pinch Merida and sneak her into the tent

 

 

 Heather had wanted this book so much.

Good work Santa

 

Merida doll

After the parcels were opened, we went through to the kitchen to have our Christmas Breakfast - Pancakes - Christmas style! Sadly, I was the only one who decorated their pancake, the others just opted for a big pile of pancakes and maple syrup and guzzled them all down.

We spent the morning at our house playing with toys and had a visit from Grandad and Auntie Georgia and then Granma and Colin came too. After more parcels and a bit of lunch, we headed over to Ditton to have Christmas Dinner with the Steels.

Granny had everything organised and Auntie Janice was doing her best to keep the baby in (she was due any day) so that she could enjoy Christmas with the kids and have her Christmas dinner. Grampa and Uncle Alan finished doing the cows while Hannah, David, Heather and Evan had lots of fun playing together.

Once we were all together, Granny produced a gigantic cracker - it took a few of us to pull it! Inside was an array of disguises (maybe not the right word) such as glasses with moustaches, hats, fake teeth etc. The kids (and big kids) had lots of fun trying them all on.

 Granny in disguise

 David

Sorry Janice...I had to put it on!

 

 Rock-star in the making!

 

 

Hello Kitty Cushion was a big hit!

 

 

 

Boxing Day - Bad Christmas Jumper Bash!

 

Mum had us all over for dinner on Boxing Day - the theme this year was Bad Christmas Jumpers. We all managed to find something suitable!

 

We managed to squeeze in some pass the parcel and a game of 'flap the fish'. Here are some of the snaps from the day.

 

 

Les and Gordon looking festive

 

 

 

Colin suits his reindeer number

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granma and Colin got the girls some Spanish dresses for Christmas.

It looks just like me and Les when we were wee...I think Mum had a tear in her eye!

 

I realised my Mum and Ian managed to escape getting their photos taken. This is the only one of Mum! Ian...we'll get some pictures of you next year!!


 
My big handsome nephew - Cam

 

'Flap the fish' - in full swing. We had to do it in two rounds because my Mum's hall is a bit narrow. I actually lost my fish in the vortex that is the 'hall-cupboard'...I swear it got sucked under the door and it was never found!!!

 

 

Bits and Bobs..

 

Other things we did: 

 

Santa has been

We have had a wonderful Christmas! We've been really busy since schools broke up for the holidays and fitted lots of fun things into each day.


We've been ~ baking lots, crafting,  having fun at soft-play, swimming, to the theatre, on a polar express, at a birthday party, at a bad Christmas jumper party and of course we've had a very busy Christmas Day too. The kids have been exhausted and so have we!




Polar Bears Go Wild
www.macrober.org

Theatre

 



On Sunday 23rd we went to MacRobert Arts Centre to see 'Polar Bears Go Wild' - it was brilliant! Last year we saw the first Polar Bear show and it was amazing. It is a fantastic little show for the under 5's where 2 actresses, dressed as polar bears, go off on an adventure together to different places. There is clever, yet basic, set and no dialogue ~ there is however, lots of comedy, some crowd participation, music and loads of laughter. I would go back in a flash as both kids loved it and were engrossed throughout.

 

Crafting

 

We made little Santa hats from triangles of red card and 2 cotton pads (split in half) and a huge amount of glitter!!!

 

 

Baking

Heather and I made shortbread cookies for Santa  - Daddy kept stealing the dough and eating it though! Evan has been devouring the cookies (and everything else in sight recently), I think it'safe to say he has a sweet tooth like his Mummy.

 

My first loaf of bread - I can't believe I've never made one before. It was really easy, I just used my trusty friend (the Kitchen Aid mixer) with the dough hook and let it work it's magic. The only difficult thing was leaving it to prove for 2 hours - I am far too impatient! Anyway, it worked out well so I think I'll be making more.

Polar Express

I came across a fantastic post on www.confessionsofahomeschooler where the parents surprise their children by taking them out on a trip to see the Christmas lights instead of goingto bed. I loved this idea so we copied it. We made up little golden tickets and hid them amongst the kid's pyjamas. It took Heather a little while to understand what we were about to do but by the time we were in the car she kind of understood the idea. She was soon shouting out each time she saw the brightly lit houses. Even little Evan started to understand - he began pointing at the houses and shouting too. Bless.

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