Photo's of us in Geneva

We had a wonderful time! I will write a post all about it later on. Got lots of washing and housework to catch up on first. Here are the photos of us, in Geneva, Switzerland. There are a lot more photos of sites, mountains, the lake etc that Steve took. I will post them another day when he has decided which ones he's keeping and which he's deleting, and what not. But just for now, these are the photos that actually have either me, Steve or both of us in them.

Lake Geneva is famous for its huge water jet. In my next post I'll tell you all about that. He is one of the first pics I took of Steve, with the water jetting out of his head! (There was something on the lens of the camera, which appears on Steve's nose in this photo).

Lake Geneva, with the old town and mountains behind it, and the bridge. Geneva is surrounded by mountains, including the Alps.

It is possible to walk across the bridge to get to the Old Town, but it's much more fun to take the little boat taxi's across. And it was free for us to travel, because our hotel gave us free passes for boat, tram, bus and train!

Here we are in one of the Old Town streets. I was taking a photo of Steve here when a nice man came and asked if we'd like him to take the picture of both of us.

We spent a lot of time in cafes or restaurants. That's what Geneva is all about. Sitting in a cafe and watching the scenery.

Here are two photos of us taken at the top of Cologny, by a nice American lady. Cologny is the Beverly Hills of Geneva, where the other half live. The houses here were mansions, and they had this gorgeous breath taking view of lake Geneva and the mountains beyond. This was taken on the Sunday when all the locals where out relaxing in their yachts.

We found a square filled with these flower mountains, which I thought looked rather odd!












I think the highlight of the trip, for me, was climbing to the top of the Cathedral and taking in the panoramic view of Geneva. It was awesome up here, although we both felt a little dizzy. In this first photo you can see me in a turret with the huge jet spray in the distance.







Here is some of the view from the tower. The jet spray on Lake Geneva, and lots of little white yachts out sailing.

The mountain views were breath taking. In the distance you can see part of The Alps.

This is me, again, from the tower.

That's is for the moment, but as I said, I will be coming back when I have more time to write about all that we did. So that both myself and Steve can go back to read it in years to come. Until then, it's time for some seriously work.

Going to Geneva

Just a quick note to say that we are leaving for our little trip to Geneva in Switzerland tomorrow morning. So there will be no blog posting for a few days, but I'll make up for that when I get back. Will miss the kids while we are gone, and hope that little Lukey isn't too sad without us. At the moment he seems happy enough knowing that we are going to bring him a present home.

Musical Sam

Just a quickie blog post because it is almost midnight and I won't be able to get out of bed in time to get Sam off to school if I don't go to sleep asap. I'm just back in from belly dancing, then a coffee in Starbucks with Mum.

Today Sam and his classmates undertook another music test, in their music lesson at school. Every child had their own keyboard and headphones. They each had so many minutes to listen to the music which was playing (it was a carol, can't remember which, but it wasn't easy). Then they had to pick out the tune as best as they could on the keyboard, and they were marked. At the end of the lesson the music teacher stood Sam up and asked him if he had taken piano lessons. He said No. She said that he had done best out of the class, and that she had never seen a child so perfectly replay the piano without lessons, in such a short amount of time. She told him that he had an exceptionally musical ear. He came home with a rather inflated head, a huge smile and an ego to match it! That's two really nice encouraging musical comments for Sam this week. One from his music teacher, and one from his guitar teacher. Just thought I'd share it.

Everyone's doing it.

Well, everyone else is going it so I thought I would too. The idea is to highlight in bold the ones you've done. Gone on, if you've got a blog give it a go.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on a first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (can't WAIT to do this one myself)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

Stormbreaker

Stormbreaker was a good film, although Jude said she enjoyed Romeo and Juliet more. Once again there was only one school there, plus us two. The manager looked briefly miffed as to why our school party only had 2 people, but I said that we home school and he was lovely enough. The other school decided to wait until the manager came in to say it was time to start the film (we'd all been sitting for 20 minutes by this point) before deciding to let their teenage school pupils go off to buy popcorn, 5 at a time. This meant a wait of another 20 minutes while 5 pupils at a time made their way out to buy refreshments. I've no idea at all why they waited till the film was about to start. But all in all the pupils were quiet and well behaved during the film, as were their teachers. Five minutes into the film the manager came in with a free box of popcorn each for myself and Jude! Wow. What a bonus! Wasn't that nice of him?

After the film we wandered around the shopping centre. Steve was at home with Luke. They went for a walk to the graveyard and Luke came home with a huge wild mushroom, that is now proudly displayed on our nature table. There was a sale on in Debenhams and I managed to buy Sam and Jude a really nice pair of pyjama's at half price, Jasper Conran, no less. They are gorgeously soft and I just want a set myself. I also treated Jude to a new coat. But this is no ordinary coat. It is a designer coat, reduced down to £9.60. It was one of the only things in the sale that was in Jude's size. It's so grown up looking, a blue kind of trendy rain coat, with a belt etc. Oh I can't explain it, so I'll have to take a photo. It's the sort of thing I'd love for myself and she looks so trendy and grown up in it. Plus, she really needed it. So she was happy. We tried on loads of perfumes in Debenhams and came home smelling divine. It was nice to have some girly time with Jude.

Since then I've had a great game of playing Thomas the Tank Engine with Luke. I spent an hour finishing the invitations for Hannah and Davids engagement party and now have them all addressed and ready to post. (Jude and I spent almost 3 hours making the cards a few nights ago). Then Luke helped me to make some fresh pineapple, ginger and orange juice, with our new juicer. And he actually drank a whole cup of it himself. Then I spent half an hour helping Sam research various claims to the English throne after Edward the Confessor's death in 1066, for his history homework. Now I'm off to put Luke to bed. Steve is at college again, printing out his photos. I'm so tired. Looking forward to getting into bed and reading the last few chapters of Shadow Baby.

Romeo and Juliet

Today has flown past. This morning Sam went off to school as usual, Steve left to catch the bus at the crack of dawn to his photography course, and Jude, Luke and I headed to lisburn to see Romeo and Juliet at the cinema. It was a free film, courtesy of Film Education Week. Tomorrow we are going to see Stormbreaker. My sister Hannah met us in Lisburn and took Luke for a walk round the shops. I didn't like the thought of trying to keep Luke quiet for 2 hours in a cinema full of teenagers. It turned out that there was only one school group, of about 80 teenagers, and us, a group of 2. I wondered what people would make of us being there. The manager showed us in, before the other school arrived. He was very polite and friendly and never questioned why we were there. Then the secondary school showed up. I don't know which school it was but the children, both boys and girls, year 3 apparently, were amazingly well behaved, and so were the staff! Much better than the group we got lumbered with last year. All the children filed in and took their seats, smiling at us, as were the staff. I kept waiting for dirty looks but didn't get any. The children all remained quiet during the whole film and seemed to really enjoy watching it. Which made it great for us, as we were able to concentrate and hear the film. When it was time for the film to start the manager came in and informed one of the teachers that it was time to start, and then also came and informed me that the film would be starting if we were all ready. I was well impressed! Hopefully Stormbreaker will be just as successful tomorrow. Although it's in a different cinema.

Jude enjoyed the film. I was aware that it was hard enough for an adult to follow, but she has enjoyed reading Romeo and Juliet this year so she knew the story well enough. I think Jude understood it as well as the year 3's. She was a bit embarrassed by the long kissing scenes and had a little giggle!

Afterwards we met up with Hannah and Luke. Luke burst into tears as he apparently missed me. (Not sure how he's going to cope when me and Steve go off to Geneva on Saturday!) But he soon perked up when we stopped at a cafe for a cuppa, where he was spoilt with the biggest piece of chocolate cake any 3 year old has ever attempted to eat. Jude had apple pie. Then Hannah got a call and had to rush off, so we came home, watched neighbours, picked Sam up from school, went grocery shopping in Tesco's, came home, unloaded and put away shopping, cleaned the fridge, cooked kids dinner, drove to Lurgan to pick Steve up from course (as he missed his bus), drove home again.... and that brings us to now.

Jude and I are going to write blog posts today for the greatest blog in history. A blog of one day, 17th October, written by thousands of different British people, which will be kept for historical interest at the British Library as a historical record of our national life, to be read in the future. What a great idea.

Home grown roast dinner, Sam on guitar, and pet spiders!

Steve came home with a huge joint of beef a few days ago and so I thought I better cook a roast for my hungry family, who LOVE roasts. Two hours into cooking the meat I thought I'd have to pop to Tesco to buy some vegetables. Then I remembered the veggie garden in the back yard. (yeah, how could I forget, eh?) We had some potatoes left from our potato harvest, which I roasted.

I popped out into the garden to get some carrots and parsnips. I didn't really have any idea whether they were ready to dig up yet. I was under the impression that I would just pull the top of the parsnip and it would pop out of the ground. I also didn't know what size the parsnips would be, as they are hidden under ground. Well, you remember the story of the giant turnip that takes a whole village to pull? That was me. Dinner was cooking, and I was out heaving and pulling trying to get a parsnip or two out of the ground. The top came right off in my hand and so I had to dig around the parsnip. I dug, and I pulled, and I dug a bit more, and I wobbled the top of it. Sam thought it was hilarious and was taking photos of me from his bedroom window (they are not suitable for blog viewing I'm afraid). Eventually I got the first parsnip out and I was pretty pleased with the size and quality of it. The whole parsnip patch smelt divine. Sam dug out the second parsnip and both Sam and Luke dug out two varieties of carrots. One is a dwarf carrot, and the other isn't. We've got plenty more parsnips and carrots to keep us going.

Next year I'll definitely plant them again. It's amazing how they grow so big and strong from such a tiny seed. This whole gardening and eating our own produce really has made me appreciate the whole of God's creation so much more. It's truly awesome to see how God has provided all this fresh tasty food for us.

Here are some photos of our bounty...
A very stubborn parsnip that was quite happy to stay put. It's actually much bigger than it looks in the photo. Well, it was, before we eat it.








Sam with the parsnip that he dug out with ease, compared to mine.


















Luke pulled some dwarf carrots.
















My boys, looking like farmers, all proud with the treasure they had dug up.
















Parsnips, carrots and shallots, from the garden.












All washed and ready to cook.
Parsnips, carrots, courgette and red cabbage, all from our garden.




One completely home grown meal. OK, so we didn't grow the beef, but still, its pretty impressive, right?

Does anyone have any idea if the parsnip and carrot tops can be used for anything, other than compost? I think I remember reading that carrot greens can be used for juicing.

Onto other news then. Steve told me at dinner time that Sam's new guitar teacher came into his shop to speak with him about Sam's progress. We have always known that Sam is musical. He spends all day every day singing and dancing. But his guitar teacher is really impressed with the speed that he has learnt so far. He's been having lessons for about 4 weeks now and is putting chords together to make songs that he knows. He sits in his room every evening (I can hear him right now) playing away on the guitar that was his Grandads when he was a boy. Anyway, his teacher said that he has never before met anyone with such a musical talent! I'm not sure whether this is a huge compliment or whether the guy just doesn't meet many people, lol. He said that Sam has learnt in a few weeks what took him months to learn himself. So he is very impressed. And I felt so proud at dinner time when Steve told me this, and Sam was hiding his face with embarrassment. So, if Sam turns out to be the next Jimmie Hendrix just remember that you heard it here first, on his Mum's blog. That's my boy! His teacher must be pleased. He is still teaching him without accepting any payment. He says that he gets so much satisfaction from seeing someone learn, someone that wants to learn, and that is all the payment he needs. Plus, he is a friend of Steve's. I really must get him a gift or something to say thank you.

Lastly, before I go, I keep meaning to blog about Jude's pet spider. Aha. A pet spider. It lives at the top of the patio doors in our study room. Every morning Jude spends about half an hour finding a dead fly, which she throws into the spiders nest. Every morning she tells me about it, but I never gave it much thought. Then, a few mornings ago she asked me to come and help as the little dead fly would not stick in the web. I threw it up a few times and then tried to put the fly into the net with my hand. "Don't do that Mummy" Jude said, "the spider will run out and try to eat your finger". "Don't be daft" I said. So I popped my finger into the net, and like lightening this spider leapt out from it's hiding place and tried to eat my finger! Of course I leapt back, screaming like a lunatic. Jude thought it was hilarious. She has been studying the habits of this spider for weeks. The spider seems to know that she will feed it every morning and waits for the little flies which she brings!

Every week we read a chapter from 'Secrets of the Wood'. Both Sam and Jude love this book, and Sam wants to keep reading it even though he is no longer home schooling. Every chapter in it is about a different animal, from the woods. Last week we read about Meeko, the squirrel. The author talks about each animals as he sits and watches them for weeks at a time, in the forest. He gets to know all about the personalities of the various creatures. Meeko is a thief, a nest robber, and a fighter. The kids were mesmerised by the stories of his adventures. The first chapter, about the mouse, had them enthralled too. It occurred to me that Jude has treated this spider in the way which the author treated the woodland creatures. She has watched it, learnt about it, gained it's trust and developed the caring nurturing side to her nature. This evening she did the same thing with the pet gerbils. She sat and watched them, for such a long time. We had put a new box into their cage, just on old food box. She sat and watched them as they filled up their cheeks with bedding from their old, half eaten box, and transferred it all to their new box. She watched them make their new home all comfy and warm, and then came to tell me all about it in detail. Jude has such a gentle caring side to her. Sometimes I don't know what to do with her. During the summer, when Daddy killed a wasp, she lay in bed sobbing her little heart out for a full hour. I know that she is sensitive to other living things. She cares for every creature, even a tiny ant. It's strange really. As a younger child she did not care at all for nature. It was Sam that, at the age of 4, became so overwhelmed during a walk in the woods that he had to stop with me and say a prayer thanking God for his beautiful creation. Whilst Jude spent the whole time whinging "what are we walking for? Is there a park at the end?"

Gosh I have rambled on far longer than I intended. I have to check some essays that Steve wrote for his course now (snore). Tomorrow Jude and I are going to watch Romeo and Juliet at the cinema, for FREE, as part of the national schools film week. Woo hoo.

We have grown some marrows and courgettes in the back vegetable garden. This is the first marrow that we cooked from our own yard. It was stuffed with fried vegetables and roasted in the oven for 20 minutes. We also had roast butternut squash pumpkin (which you can see in the background). Both the pumpkin and marrow had olive oil drizzled over them before roasting. The marrow tasted divine, and even the children loved it! Hopefully some more will grow soon so that we can eat it again.

We have grown some marrows and courgettes in the back vegetable garden. This is the first marrow that we cooked from our own yard. It was stuffed with fried vegetables and roasted in the oven for 20 minutes. We also had roast butternut squash pumpkin (which you can see in the background). Both the pumpkin and marrow had olive oil drizzled over them before roasting. The marrow tasted divine, and even the children loved it! Hopefully some more will grow soon so that we can eat it again.

This is me

This is Luke's first ever independent painting. It's me. But you can see that, of course.

Yesterday evening I was stressed out, before going to belly dancing class. The constant headaches I am getting, along with the pounding sounds in my ear are getting to me somewhat, and I was getting rather stressed. Luke was worried that I was 'sad'. So he told Daddy that he was going to paint me a picture to make me happy! When I came home (at midnight) this painting was waiting on the floor in the hallway for me to discover. I almost cried as Steve said that he painted it all on his own. Face shape first, then eyes, then nose, then a huge smiley mouth. Isn't it just the most gorgeous thing? It melted my heart anyway. Luke has put some blue tac on it so that we can display it in pride of place for everyone to see.

Peter Pan

In an attempt to inspire Luke to get dressed up into his new costumes I decided to read the story of Peter Pan to him. He was very excited about this and we put his new Peter Pan costume on whilst we read it, which added to the excitement. He has never heard the story before. After reading it I suggested a game. He was Peter Pan and I was Captain Hook the pirate. I put on the few bits from his pirate costume that fitted me and we had great fun! Jude took some photos so that Grandad, who bought him the costume, could see.

Ulster Bride Wedding Extravaganza

As I mentioned yesterday, my sisters, Mum and I went to the Ulster Bride Wedding Extravaganza at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, at the weekend. The bridal catwalk shows were the highlight of the day and I forgot to take the camera! But my sister Maddi took some very good shots on her mobile phone, some of which I'm putting on my blog (with her permission). I should have taken Jude with me, she would have just loved the models prancing down the catwalks in those gorgeous dresses. I'll load these photos on small, but if you want to view them better you can click on them to see the larger versions.

Autumn Nature Walk

I'll start this post with a photo of Luke. Whilst I was away on Sunday Steve, Sam, Jude and Luke all watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD. Luke got into the idea of eating chocolate quite quickly, by the looks of it.

Steve has gone back to work this week so life is returning to normal around here. It was nice to have him at home for a while, and I think he enjoyed it too. On Sunday I went to the wedding fair in Belfast with my sisters (including Hannah, the bride-to-be) and our Mum. I will put the photos that Maddi took onto the blog when I get hold of them. It was a good event. Busy. The catwalk show was probably the best bit, although I did enjoy looking at some of the stalls, including the wedding cake stalls, and the photography stalls. Hopefully Hannah got some ideas for her wedding from it. Afterwards Jenny and I went to Harry Ramsdens for dinner, because we were absolutely starving.

Talking of food. I went down to Boots today to 'officially' weigh myself. The plan is to get weighed on the first of every month, but life doesn't always fit in with that. I was surprised and pleased to find I'd lost 7lb, or half a stone, since my September weigh in! So all that belly dancing and refusing of treats did pay off after all. Now I'll have to keep it up.

I did a bit of exercise today! Pushing Luke in his buggy up the mother of all hills. I decided that seen as the weather was nice, we'd walk to mother and toddlers group today. But not a direct down hill walk, rather a scenic ambient nature walk. We had been inspired by watching Autumn Watch on TV, to go out and gather some of the autumn seeds. Also, Luke has been asking a heap of questions about the seasons. "Where has the summer gone?" "Why are the leaves falling off the trees?" "How do we know when it's time for Christmas?" etc. So I thought it would be nice to gather some autumnal things for Luke to create a little Autumn Nature Table.

In order to get to the country lanes, and walk that way, I had to push my over sized three year old uphill in a very badly designed buggy. Well, I should have lost another 7lb doing that, let me tell you! But it was worth it. We stopped by a field of sheep, where Luke got out of the buggy to call the sheep over. Then we found a big conker tree and collected some of the conkers for our nature table. A man stopped and asked us if we'd been watching 'Autumn Watch' whilst handing us some conkers that he'd found. It was nice to get some fresh air and walk to the mother and toddler group. Luke had 'Happy Birthday' sung to him there, and was all pleased about that.

After that we went to visit Daddy in his shop. Luke stayed there and watched a DVD whilst Jude and I popped to a few shops. I bought Jude some new clothes in Peacocks, which she was pleased about. She's looking rather trendy these days!

We were able to collect the car from Daddy's shop and drive home. As soon as we got in Luke said "are we going to make a table now with these conkers?" Bless him. We made a little nature display and have put it on the coffee table in the hall way. He can't wait to show his findings to Daddy when he gets home.

Now I have to go and get into my bed with Luke. Sometimes, in late afternoon when he gets tired, he likes to get into bed with me and chat. Usually the first thing he wants to talk about is our trip to Disneyland (last January), or what my favourite toy is. (Talking of trips, it's only 2 weeks till our trip to Geneva!)

Luke's 3rd birthday - Part 2

Luke had a fabulous birthday and is still on a high from it all. Birthdays, at that age, are just so exciting. I already wrote a post below about his birthday morning, and here is the follow up about his party. Family, and a few friends, started arriving from 4pm. Steve had made a table full of party food and treats for our guests (later we discovered a huge bag of treats that we'd forgotten to put out). Luke waited until everyone had arrived before opening his presents, and then he played with each one that he'd opened for a while. He did very well for presents! Here he is opening a big scooby-doo from our friends the Connollys (see Connolly Family Self Build blog in sidebar).

He was also given this large wooden garage from his Nanny, which is now in our garage. He likes to have it out there because he has lots of space to lie down on a rug and play with it, and a million cars. Auntie Hannah and Uncle David gave him some cars, one of which was a cool battery operated mini, which drives around on its own, opening its doors and hooting, and seems to know which way it is going! Auntie Jenny and her girls gave him a Halloween dressing up costume which included a spooky mask, a skeleton outfit, and skeleton gloves. He hasn't got up the courage to try this one on yet, but he will enjoy it for Halloween. Auntie Maddi and Tom brought him a huge airplane, with little people, luggage and loading cars. This was his favourite present and he hasn't stopped playing with it. Although the train set is still a big hit, even though it's moved upstairs into a large space on the landing. Grandad gave him a cool Peter Pan dressing up outfit, which a lot of the grown ups wished they were still small enough to wear. He has been having great fun with the hat, boots and sword that came with this. I have put all the costumes into a large duck bin for him to keep. He can dive in any time he feels like a change of character.


Luke had spent days choosing which cake he wanted me to make, from our kids cake book. He changed his mind every day, but found the whole concept of choosing and making a cake very exciting. However, on a shopping trip to Tesco with his Dad he succumbed to all the glorious birthday cakes on offer there, and came home with a Scooby Doo cake. Jude and I put 3 candles on it, but Luke decided he deserved the whole packet of candles, hence the 10 candles on a 3 year olds cake. He blew them all out in one go!

Thanks so much to everyone that sent or gave him presents, money and cards this year. He did have such a lovely day.