Congratulations Hannah and David!

Its been quite a tough week, one way or another. But today the kids were 'off' and the day was pretty relaxing. I took them into the town to get some bits for Sam's birthday. Luke wanted to buy him some sweets for a present, and made no secret of it. We also bought some wrapping paper and a card. I wanted to get a few other bits but Sam didn't get the hint to clear off so it wasn't possible. Also managed to spend £24 on a new pair of shoes for Jude. Tomorrow Steve will get the trampoline and safety net whilst in Belfast. Which means he wont be able to take Luke and Jude whilst Sams as stage school, as he usually does. So I won't have a peaceful day to myself. Ah well.
One night this week Steve dedicated a whole evening to spoiling me. He ran me a hot bubble bath, then when I came out of it there was a hot foot soak in the living room. He gave me the remote control, and a cup of tea. He put the kids to bed quietly, without the usual stress and groaning that comes with the task. It was really nice to relax. I think he must think I'm about the crack or something! This evening I went to collect him from work and when we pulled into the drive he gave me a present... all wrapped in shiny blue paper. It was a photo from our trip to Brussels last year. He had it printed and framed for me. I was so touched. It is a photo of me eating lobster! But it is a good one.
This week, despite all the bad news, we had some good news. My sisters boyfriend David finally popped the question! And she said YES! Well, popped the question is a bit of an understatement. David only turns out to be the most romantic guy on the planet. Ladies, you may wish not to read the rest of todays entry as your husbands may suddenly seem less wonderful.
Firstly David phoned Dad to ask for Hannah's hand in marriage. How genteel. Like something out of Pride and Prejudice. I wonder did Dad offer a dowry? Anyway, Dad obviously said Yes. Then David made Hannah follow a set of clues all around the area from his childhood home. With each clue she found a gift. Cute. Then when she found David he took her for a walk along an area that was important to the first part of his life. He took her there so that he could make her, and it, part of the second stage of his life. He then took off his jacket with his back turned and his T-shirt back read 'Hannah', and when he turned round the front said 'Will you marry me?' He then produced a big shiny rock for her finger - which just looks 'so Hannah'. It's perfect. I've got a photo of it to upload sometime. Anyway, the whole story sounded so much better the way Hannah told it! It's not quite so romantic coming from me. I'm not doing the gooey gushes, and the fluttering eyelids, and the lovestruck look. That really helps with this kind of story.
Here are a couple of photos of the happy, gorgeous couple (stolen from Hannahs Bebo Site)

It's 9pm and Luke is busy playing in the kitchen with a toy buggy. He's filling it with plastic cups and plates. Usually he is in bed by now, but this afternoon he took himself off to bed and slept for 2 hours! This must be one of the perks of having his room downstairs where he can go to it at any time. But on the down side, he doesn't look very tired now. Steve, Sam and Jude have all gone to Belfast in a big white van. Steve hired it today to bring home books for his Newcastle book fair. He had to take Luke for a little drive in it this afternoon. He just gets so excited when Daddy brings home a van to play in. He spent all day talking about it. So Steve and the kids all left at 5 and then I spend an hour of quality time with Luke. We read stories, had tickles and cuddles. Upstairs we have a little 'perfect man' keyring that I bought Steve for a joke in Tescos last year. When you press the mans tummy he comes out with great perfect husband quotes like "I don't mind which channel we watch, you take the remote tonight dear", and "oh cant your mother-in-law stay for another week?" Luke was playing with it this morning and he has spent all day saying "Lets just cuddle tonight darling" !!!

Today we got the phone bill for our two mobile phones. I think we might have to get rid of them! The bill was close to £100. It seems such a waste of money. It was allitemizedd and most of the calls were made by me, even though Steve is running a business from his. It's strange, because I always think I never phone anyone. There were a few real long calls this month on it which came to about £20 ! No more nattering for me anymore.

It looks like summer is over already! I shouldn't complain since some years we don't have a summer at all. It is such a shame, but it hasn't stopped raining all week, and I even had to put the heating on twice today (not good - as we have no oil left). Its only one week till Sam's birthday so we can't buy more oil or the poor child will get no presents. He is still hankering after a trampoline.

Well, Im going to get this little man to bed and then I have the rest of the evening to myself. I spent hours today marking maths work and am finally up to date with it. I'm convinced our Sam and Jude are really Bart and Lisa. Marking Judes work was a delight. Tick, tick, tick. Ive got a double bill of Desperate Housewives to look forward to this evening. The last in the series. I have to go as I am now pretending to be the checkout lady at Tesco's whilst Luke passes his groceries across the keyboard. (It seems the buggy was actually a trolley!)

Fathers Day

I need to do a catch up post! Last Sunday it was Fathers Day. The kids always love Fathers and Mothers days. They love to spoil us and make us feel special. They gave Daddy the hugest bar of chocolate, some maltesers, some hankies with I love Daddy embroidered on them and a key ring. Jude made him a paper medal for the worlds best Dad. We also bought a plain white breakfast set (bowl, plate, cup and egg cup) with some special paints. The kids and Steve are going to paint one each. It's something they can all do together. It should be fun. From the photos you can see that Luke enjoys this occassions more than anyone.

Also on Sunday Luke was delighted to find a huge snail crawling up the outside of our bedroom window. He is at that age where he gets such delight from finding creepy crawlies. This was a great event because we could see all the snails muscles moving through the clear glass. Luke was just so amazed and asked us to take a photo.



These are the 2 photos from our trip to the Chinese Restaurant on Sunday which go with the post below.

What a busy couples of days. I don't know why I'm always so surprised about how busy life is, as it's never been any different. Its almost 10 pm and I've got 3 letters to write. I've written one already but I have another 3 to reply to. I hope to get at least another one done tonight. Today I received a letter in the post from a man in Zambia. He is on death row too, like my other pen pal in the US. I don't remember ever writing to him. I know I must have done, because he has replied to my letter! But I don't remember it. The way the WAP website works is that you can email your first letter and they post it for you. Subsequent letters must be posted. Obviously I must have stumbled upon his ad one evening and emailed him through their system, but I have no recollection of it. Anyway, he wrote in his letter that he had been praying desperately for someone to write to him. He is going to be executed for armed robbery, although I don't believe he murdered anyone. He has been in prison for 9 years and in that time he has not had a single letter. I felt really sad reading about how much joy my letter had given him. It was like his first visitor, he said. He was elated and thanking God for answering his prayer, yet I don't even remember writing to him. He has become a Christian since his imprisonment and called me Sister Hazel all the way through - I felt like a nun! LOL. Here is one part of his letter
"One thing you have to know is that God has brought us together for a purpose. This is the divine love of God working in you. The Almighty God is speaking to you inside your heart about me, a condemned prisoner. Be assured that this friendship is from above". I'm inclined to believe him since I didn't make a mental decision to write to him myself. It will be interesting to write to him, although I am a little concerned. The pending execution of my 2 year friend in Georgia is enough for me to handle. I don't know if I can go through it twice. I guess the Lord will give me strength.

Anyway, Sam will be celebrating his 11th birthday soon and he wants a trampoline. After enjoying 2 days of bouncing at Jenny's house he is convinced this is what he needs. I have told him it will be his only present because of the cost of it, and he seems fine with that. I will need to get out to the shops some time to buy it... not an easy task when home educating three children.

A few weeks back our fellowship helped one of the men, Barry, move house. His house needed a lot of work done to it to make it leaveable! Every Sunday and Wednesday for 3 weeks everyone cleaned and packed and tidied for him. During this process Steve and the kids collected all the spare change that they found and put it into bags for him. Steve has since spent an hour every day counting that change! Jude would take a bag at a time to the post office to be changed into notes. At our Sunday meeting yesterday Steve told Barry to guess how much money they had collected. He had no idea. Someone guessed about £200 !!! No. They had collected no less that £820 from around his house! Isn't that amazing! So Barry took the fellowship out for Chinesese meal on Sunday evening, with cash from his house. The rest of it is being used to buy a car. Steve made a heap of jokes about informing the royal mint. I wonder how many years it had taken to collect that. He reckons he has about another £200 worth of coins at home that still need changing. We all went toChineseese restaurant here in the town after our Sunday meeting. We had a big round table that we were all able to sit around. Even Luke had a big seat and felt the business sitting with all the adults. The food was lovely, and it made a change to tea and fruit loaf! We did take photos, they will follow soon.

The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse. The beautiful sunshine has gone, but not before giving my veggies a boost. The sunflowers are now about 3 ft tall. The potatoes and onions are HUGE. But alas, my tomatoes and strawberries have been attacked by greenfly and I had to spray them despite wanting to go organic. But they were covered with them and I was frightened of it spreading to everything else. I must get some sort of organic pesticide for emergencies. The cabbages were attacked by tiny caterpillars but we found most of them and squished them! Nice. Hopefully they will improve. Next year I will just grow the things that we have great success with, I think.

Well, I better go and write a letter whilst I'm still awake enough.

Luke's New Bedroom

After spending two days cleaning out Steves office and painting it the blue colour that Luke chose the downstairs front bedroom is now converted into Luke's room. He's spent two nights in it so far and seems to like it. Now the computer is in the hallway under the stairs until I get the spare bedroom upstairs that Luke had converted into an office. Its much better this way. Luke has much more room to play and he can access his stuff much easier now that he doesn't have to climb the stairs. Click on the images to see the large photos.

What the others did over the weekend...

Steve and the kids also had great fun whilst I was away. They had aunty Hannah staying for the weekend and Sam was involved in a little production through his Helen O'Grady drama class. Here are some photos that they took.

Girls Pampering Spa Weekend!

Well, we are back safe and sound from our pampering weekend. No one fell out, and we all got along fine so that was great. I'm putting a few photos from the weekend onto this blog but you can also view the rest of them by clicking here.


I had the most amazing weekend. On Friday we went to the Pure Day Spa in Killinchy. None of us really new quite what to expect from it. We hoped it would be good, but we didn't realise how utterly amazing it would be! From the second we arrived we were treated like royalty. They took our shoes and gave us some special slippers that massage the vital points of our feet. We changed into our swimming costumes and robes that were provided. The place was just awesome. It was so clean, and quiet, and tranquil. Peaceful music was gently playing and every little nook and cranny had something special about it - candles, water features, lillies. It was pure luxury. After changing into our robes we were taken to an area with three luxurious chaise longe style loungers. They covered our legs with blankets and then offered a choice of champagne or fruit juices. We were given magazines and a bowl of organic fresh fruit salad. The attention to detail was amazing. On every massage table there would be left a fresh Lilly on the pillow. Then our 3 beauticians (for want of a better word) came and took us to different rooms. Heidi was my girl and she was just lovely. She took me into a room that was lit with candles and smelled of essential oils. There was a ray of sun shining across the room through the shutters - it was just surreal. First she asked me to sit on a bean bag whilst she did a foot ritual. I had no idea what a foot ritual was! She put my feet into a china bowl full of smooth pebbles and warm water. It had little rose petals floating in it. Then she sat on the floor and bathed my feet whilst asking me questions about my life - health, food, exercise, etc. She asked how I most wanted to feel at the end of the day. My answer was 'relaxed'. By doing this ritual she could find out how best to tailor my treatments to my expectations. Then she asked me to choose a stone from the table. I chose a smooth round dark green stone, and she told me that this particular stone represented relaxation!

My first treatment was an aromatherapy facial. Heidi gave me various different oils to smell so that I could choose the ones I liked the best. All the various oils I chose were from the relaxation range! (although I didn't know that at the time). She said my body obviously wanted relaxation that day. I lay on this heated massage table for about an hour and half whilst I had the facial and the Indian head massage. The facial was the most relaxing thing I've ever experienced. It wasn't just a case of cleaning my face! No, it was a full on face, shoulder and neck massage. Whilst the mask was on my face she gave me a hand massage too. I've never had so many creams, lotions, oils and masks on my face at once! She massaged various pressure points around the face, neck and temples. The whole atmosphere with the candles, smells and gentle music was just like being in heaven! The Indian head massage was different to how I imagined. I thought it was just a good massage. I had no idea I'd come out with a head full of pink mud and aromatherapy oils! I looked a sight! But it was well worth it. She poured various oils through my scalp and massaged in different ways that I couldn't really describe that well. She massaged pressure points, and then did a sort of pitter-pattering massage with her fingers. She spent 5 minutes massaging my ears! It was just paradise. When she had finished I could barely get off of the bed, I was so relaxed. Little did I know that whilst I was enjoying this pure bliss, poor Brenda and Heather were suffering torturous pain through a treatment called exfoliation and body brush! Which basically involved being rubbed down from head to toe with scouring pads and floor brushes! But they also enjoyed a session of reflexology which they both raved about. I will try that next time myself.

After these first two treatments we were taken to the showers and then we spent half an hour or so relaxing in the jacuzzi. (see photo above). The photo below shows the jacuzzi (from their website). You can see how classy the place was from the website photos much better than you can from our photos. We were brought drinks of water to have whilst in the jacuzzi and I asked the lady to take our photo. We never saw another client whilst we were there, so I don't know if we had the place to ourselves or whether they time the treatments so that we don't bump into each other. After the jacuzzi we had another shower (beautiful spa shower gels and lotions were free for use at any time) and then spent 10 minutes in the steam room, before having yet another shower!



Then we were taken upstairs to a little relaxation room. We were able to sit on the sofas there and the lady covered our legs with fleece blankets. We sat and chatted, signed the visitors book and eat chocolates for half an hour. It was so nice to not be rushed in between treatments. It really added to the feeling of luxury and rest. Then we were taken downstairs to yet another little area where tea was laid on. This area had a soothing water feature. The table was set for the 3 of us with teas, juices, coissants, buns and biscuits, which we were really ready for. Another lady took a photo for us, but you really cant tell from this picture just how nice the place was. Everything was presented so well.



Then we went to separate rooms again for our body massages. We had such a laugh at the ridiculous plastic pants that we were given to wear! Myself and Brenda were in stitches over them. They were more like plastic thongs than anything else and just looked hilarious! Once again I enjoyed the pure bliss of a hot oil body massage whilst Heather and Brenda suffered the torture of a Swedish body massage! Whilst they were having deep tense knots removed from their bodies I was being drenched in gorgeous hot oils and gently massaged from top to toe! Poor Heather had finger bruises on her arms the next day. Although I think they really did benefit from the Swedish massage and they also had a great time.
After the last treatments we were taken to a little sunny area outside to sit and relax before getting dressed to go. Our ladies each came out to see us and advised us about skin care, and gave advise about what they had noticed about our skin or bodies. They advised various products to deal with different problem areas. It was possibly the most amazing and purely paradise like experience of my life so far. It is something I would recommend to anyone! You simply have to do this at least once in your life.


After we left the spa we drove down to white rock and had some lunch in a restaurant there. (click on the small photos to see a larger version) Then we went for a walk along the pebbly beach area. Heather practiced her skimming skills in the water and I was throwing large stones into the water as I found the loud plopping noise they made very satisfying. Heather took the opportunity to thow a huge rock into the water just in front of me and soaked me! She took great pleasure in that!

Friday was just great. A day of pampering, no rushing, beautiful sunshine, what more could a girl ask for? After all this we drove to the Dunadry Hotel where we stayed for the two nights. Margaret joined us here and she shared a room with Brenda which was joined to our room. We had a great time over the weekend. Lots of chilling, no rushing. I managed to read half of my 5 languages of love book whilst the girls went shopping. We played countless games of boggle, and sat up chatting till the early hours of the morning. We even managed a stint in the gym and a swimming session!
But it was great to get home and see the kids and Steve again. I enjoy being away from home but I always enjoy getting home too. Needless to say that all the men and children coped perfectly well without us!

This is the four of us outside the hotel entrance.





(Notice my fabulous new hair cut - courtesy of my sister Jenny)

Abi's Birthday

Abi, my niece, was 6 on the 06/06/06 ! Imagine that. Jenny invited my kids over for her party, and Sam & Jude stayed there overnight. Abi got a new trampoline, a 12ft one, which they spent 2 full days jumping on. Subsequently Sam and Jude are crippled with muscle pains this morning. Mum, Dad and Hannah were all there for the party too. Here are some photos...



This is Jenny, me and Hannah, 3 of the 4 sisters.





I had to post this photo of Luke. Yesterday morning, when Sam and Jude weren't here, he came into the living room all dressed up in Judes pink hat and feather boa. He told me he was doing a play and that I had to watch. He was using Judes beanies for fellow actors. He is so much like Sam! Sam has trained him in his own image! There is a photo of Sam somewhere on this blog with a pink feather boa wrapped round his head. Looks like I've many more years of play watching ahead of me.

Veggie patch update

The vegetables are all suddenly growing due to the amount of sun we've had lately. The beans have sprouted through the soil, the carrots are just showing through, and the parsnips. The potatoes need more soil built up around them, which I must do today. And the onions are growing really well. So far, so good - apart from an ongoing slug problem.

My first photo of the gorgeous family. Matt with Maddison, and Tabi with Meadow. I'm going to phone Tabi today for a chat, to see how she is getting on. She doesn't look like she's just had twins does she?!

Dublin Fellowship Weekend

This weekend the fellowship in Dublin had organised their annual outreaching event. Our Belfast fellowship always goes down to support it. This time Steve and Jude took the bus down on Saturday and stayed overnight with Rachael and Anthony. I had to take Sam to drama school as usual on Saturday, so we drove to Dublin for the Sunday meeting. Jude had another great day in Dublin. Once again she had control of the camera and came back home with 274 digital photos! During the Sunday meeting she got up on stage to take a photo of everyone. When she got down a few people asked her to go back with their cameras and take pictures for them. I think she loved that. She felt like an official photographer! She definitely has a talent for it.

It was lovely to see everyone in Dublin again, and to meet up with a few old friends from England too. I was asked to give my testimony during the second meeting. Urgh! I don't mind getting up on stage and giving my testimony - I just don't like being warned in advance. That way I don't have time to worry about it! Apparently it was good, but I felt so distracted by Luke who was sitting in the front row playing with his cars at top volume!

Luke made a new friend while we were there. A little girl from Mongolia called Mishka (or Michelle). She is 16 months old. Luke was besotted with her. Since he came home he keeps telling me "I love Mishka". They were so cute together. Luke looked like a gentle giant next to her! He would run around the hall calling "catch me, catch me" and Mishka would giggle and run after him. They had a great time. It was really nice to see him mixing with some younger children. He doesn't know any other kids his own age. I really must take him to a mother and toddler group in September. Steve and Bagi (Mishka's Mum) took all the kids to the park during the communion meeting where Jude took some gorgeous photos of the two little ones playing together, and holding hands!

This is the photo Jude took from the stage during a chorus time.



Jude, enjoying the sites around Dublin.




Steve, next to a chain ball with a fire inside!


The lads - Tom, Anthony and Steve.



Some of the men got up to sing an item. Steve, Sam, Pastor Ray, Ronnie, Dan and John.


The girls - Jana, Rachael and me.



The happy couple, again!

Here are Luke and Mishka playing together at the park.





Another happy couple! Don't they look so cute holding hands. Adorable.

It's Saturday, and myself and Luke are off to the train museum for the afternoon. The weather is far too nice to be indoors, but we have to take Sam to stage school as usual and Luke is desperate to go back to the train museum. Jude and Steve have gone to Dublin for the weekend for a fellowship outreaching thingy. They should be on the bus right now. Tomorrow I'll drive down with the boys for the Sunday meeting and bring Steve & Jude back home with me.

Yesterday I got sunburnt! Typically I put lotion on all 3 of the kids but forgot about myself. I was weeding the onion patch with help from Luke, and because I was bending over the patch for about an hour I burnt my back and shoulders. It's not too bad. Just very red, but I've been burnt worse than that before. I'll pop in to Tesco's on our way into Belfast to get some spray on sun tan lotion. No doubt they'll probably be sold out as no one in Northern Ireland ever expects to need sun tan lotion!

Only 6 days until our girly relaxing spa weekend! Woo hoo! I can't wait. Steve is gutted because the England match is on, but he has to take Sam to his end of term drama performance. I'll not be here to do it, so he is crying about that. Being a girl, I don't understand why they can't just record it and watch it when they get home.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful but I had the cold again. It came back with a vengeance this time. Just down one side of my face. So I'm looking gorgeous with a puffy purple left eye, and violent bouts of sneezing. In the afternoon I just crashed for an hour in the hammock, and lay in the sun shine. That's very unlike me. Sam and Jude gave me a push every time they walked passed, then Luke started to aswell. The house was a state but I just couldn't be bothered with it.


Seen as the weather was so nice I let the kids play out in the garden all morning, and they didn't start their school work till about 1pm. I think its important to let them play together in the garden when he have nice weather, as it's so rare! All 3 of them spent the morning in the ship that they had built from the treadmill boxes. They took supplies with them, teddy bears for passengers, Luke took some cups, plates and plastic fruit from his play kitchen. It was lovely to see all 3 of them playing a game together, despite the age difference.

Today it seems to be lovely weather again. Sam and Jude have each run a km on the treadmill this morning. I wonder how long it will be before that novelty wares off! Luke is in a very whingy mood this morning and is driving me bananas. Hopefully the sunshine will give our veggie patch a boost! Some of the seeds I planted aren't even poking through yet - I think due to a severe lack of sunshine. Its amazing how much they do grow when the sun shines. The potatoes and onions seem to be doing the best out of the lot.






Jude having her morning run on the treadmill.