3 Years Old

Okay, it's Anna Jane's turn.

Anna Jane turned 3 in the summer and is such a sweet, sensitive girl.

She likes to be just like her big sister. She is also a wonderful big sister and often can be found comforting and helping her little sister. AJ still enjoys Diego but also loves to watch Disney Fairies and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. She enjoys playing with Playmobil, Disney Cars and her play Kitchen. AJ is very imaginative and loves role playing. She is much more relaxed about the clothing she wears and mainly likes to be comfortable and warm. She will usually join in with her sister's school and I have little "assignments" that she does. Mostly tracing letters but she is doing very well now and her colouring in is very much improved. AJ is a very funny girl when she wants to be, often doing funny voices and faces. She also gesticulates which adds to the comic affect. She is very thoughtful of others and loves to have cuddles. AJ is shy but when comfortable is a real chatterbox. She is also our "Daddy's Girl".
Favourites -
Colour: Blue and Red
Food: Chocolate, Pizza, Fish and Chips
Activities: Gardening, Baking, Crafts
Height: 2' 10"
Shoe Size: 8

Opening her presents

Ready for the day

She Chose to spend her birthday at Amazonia, indoor rain forest

Feeding fish at the indoor Rain forest

Anna Jane our sweet and precious munchkin. You bring such joy to our lives, we are enjoying watching  your caring nature grow and develop. We pray that wherever your life walk takes you and through all the changes that will come one thing will be constant, that God is with you guiding you always. We  LOVE YOU with a never ending, never giving up, always and forever love.

5 Years Old

Since I didn't post the girls birthday or party I thought I would instead dedicate a post to each one. Since she is the first born I will start with Abby.

Abigail turned 5 in the summer and is such a girly, girl.

Loves to wear dresses, skirts. Loves glitter and sparkles. Still enjoys Dora but much more into Disney Fairies and Princesses. She enjoys playing with her Playmobil and reading anything she can get her hands on. We started home school in August and she is excelling at primary 2 level/1st Grade. She loves to be involved and help out as much as possible. She is such a good encourager and likes to make sure that everything is fair and equal for everyone. Abby is a very active 5 year old, she goes to a sports coaching class for kids called Enjoy-a-ball and seems to like basketball the most out of the sports they have tried so far. She makes friends easily and enjoys being in the company of all ages of people.
Favourites -
Colour: Red/Purple
Food: Spaghetti, Chocolate
Activities: Crafts, Baking, Colouring, Reading
Height: 3' 6"
Shoe Size: 10

Excited about her gift

Opening gifts on her birthday

She chose to go to Stirling Castle for her birthday

Dressing up in the Castle

Princess Abigail

 Abigail you are our sweet daughter and we pray that whatever life brings and whatever decisions you make you will always remain faithful to God and his path for your life. We are so proud of you and love you with a never ending, never giving up, always and forever LOVE.

Time travel

Ok, yes I know its now 2012 but there is so much from the 2nd half of 2011 that has yet to be told.....

I will try to be brief. Following Abby's birthday we had a play date with the Gaunts and were joined by the Sheets for part of the day also. it was a warm sunny day so we played at the park and had lunch in the garden, then the kids played and we ev entually got out the paddling pool. the kids had a great day which made the HUGE clean up job afterwards worth it. Of course this was the day that the vacuum cleaner decided to break down and my smaller one doesn't pick up aswell, there was grass everywhere. Thankfully we ordered a new one that came very quickly and I love it! It was a hidden blessing.

The other big part of our summer was spending about 3 weeks at mum/grannies house. The weather was nice so we had days at parks, playing in sprinklers and in the paddling pool. We took a train to Glasgow to visit David's family, the girls enjoyed the ride and all the attention that they received.

I have had this post saved as a draft for so long that I can hardly remember what else happened. To sum up the Autumn and Winter of 2011. David had been looking for a new job and got one in Edinburgh to begin in the new year, we put our house on the market. We celebrated Aleah's first birthday at the end of November, a quiet party with family.Once school had finished for the Christmas break we packed up as much as we could and headed down to mum's. We had a lovely Christmas all together as my brother and his family were moving to the USA after the new year.

Thus ends 2011, finally!

4 Years Old!

A few days after the party it was Abby's birthday. Again it was a week day so David was at work, this meant that the day should have been a normal one! However, half way through the morning we realised that David had all the keys to the house and as per usual he had locked the door. I couldn't get hold of him so we just had to get on with the day and hope for the best. Maureen came over to take my mum out for coffee so she had to climb out the dining room window! It was quite a sight to see :)

Since it was Abby's birthday she picked the meals so for lunch we had Mac and Cheese. I don't remember now if it was before or after lunch but Rachael came round to see if we wanted to go to the park with her, Lewis, Libby and Leo but I explained the problems about being locked in! So she offered to take the girls so they also climbed out the window and climbed back in later.

While my mum was out for coffee they went by the school and picked up a set of keys from David. Once she was home Abby and her Grannie had fun doing a sticker book together while the younger sisters took naps. Once David was home we opened, cards and presents. Her birthday dinner choice was fajitas followed by ice-cream and fruit.

Abby got a pop-up paddling pool, pots and pans set, playmobil, book and a cut and make baguette set. I think she had a fun day.

Abigail Faith is polite, loving, very compassionate, sooo intelligent and helpful. She loves bible class and learning. Abby is learning to write letters and numbers and she is even beginning to read. Her smile can light up your day and her laugh is infectious. Often times she will do or say something and will just cracker herself up. A lot of her day now is spent role playing rather than specific toys. She can dress herself and helps with her sisters coats and shoes, helps out in the kitchen and enjoys taking on more and more responsibilities. Her favourite - colour is red, food mac and cheese or spaghetti, TV shows; Dora, Everything's Rosie, Octonauts, Nina and the Neurons, Treat ice cream and chocolate, anything sparkly and girly and to be involved in everything! Dislikes - cooked carrots, loud noises, to see people upset.

Abigail you are growing up so fast and we love the beautiful girl that we see in you. You are dear to our hearts and we will always love you.

Birthday Lunch

2 peas in a pod!

Excited for presents

Playmobil fun, fun , fun


Her sister helped open the boxes

Sleeping in the paddling pool

Playing together


Newborn

One Year old

Two Years Old

Three Years Old

Four Years Old

Girls party

With the girls birthdays only being a week apart in June we combined their parties on the Saturday in between the actual birthdays.

Of course it was Dora and Diego themed So we had plates, cups, napkins with the theme. The menu was pizza, potato smiles and stars, fruits and cake.

The guest list: Grannie, Uncle John Anthony, Auntie Kristen, Brennan, Jonathan, Russell, Rachael, Lewis, Libby, Leo, JR, Dashia, Gideon, Naomi, Grandpa Michael, Grandma Maureen, Rachel, Emily, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Stacey and Kellan.

It was a bit showery and windy but we had a fun day. Firstly as people started to arrive I was told to come to the door to help with something......... When I looked out I was surprised to see Nathan, Stacey and Kellan! Although Abby wanted to invite them we told her that they wouldn't be able to come all this way for the party. They had planned this trip back and kept it a surprise so it was wonderful to have them here and be able to share our celebrations with them. It was especially great for them to meet AJ and Aleah and it was wonderful to see Kellan again as when they left he was a toddler and now he is a little boy!

The kids played, we ate, had cake went to the park and field just outside our house and then let the girls open some presents. We were having so much fun that we ended up eat leftover pizza for dinner! The girls had a terrific day and we are so thankful to our friends and family for making the day special.

ONE of the worst cousins shot


The best picture of the cousins

Anna Jane Grace is 2 Years Old

Anna Jane's birthday is the first between the girls so we decorated with some balloons and banners. We had it all decorated for when she got up in the morning. It was a relatively normal morning. I let her pick what she wanted for lunch so we had grilled cheese, pickles and fruit. Shortly following lunch it was nap time and we planned to give her cards and presents afterwards so that David would be home. Unfortunately almost all of the presents we bought her did not make it that day. She did have a few to open though from her Grannie and Abby. Grannie gave her a new book and a playmobil set and Abby gave her a Diego magnet book. She woke a bit earlier than usual and David hadn't gotten home yet so I distracted them upstairs till he arrived. We headed into the livingroom where her cards and presents were laid out on a chair. She had fun opening them and was glad to have some new toys that were hers! Her dinner choice was lasagna and peppers/salad which we all enjoyed followed by watermelon. Since we were going to have cake later on the party day I didn't want to have it over again and again so we had ice cream and I put a candle and mini sparkler in it. Anna Jane just though that was the greatest thing ever. The next day the other gifts arrived so we did another present opening. She loved her new toys. We gave her a small doll pram which she called a “pramer” and Aleah gave her a set of pompoms.

Our baby is 2! She is incredible, so funny she makes us laugh all the time with her expressions, statements and actions. She is so creative and imaginative, she will hold her hands up by her face and wiggle her little fingers, then say “claws, snap you up”. Loves playing with Dora toys, dolls, playmobil, kitchens, bouncing, but most of all she loves books. She will cuddle up with you and a book every chance she gets. Her special toy is Bunny and she snuggles with him to sleep and on car journey's. Her favourite - colour is blue, fruit is watermelon, vegetable broccoli/corn/green beans/pickles/peppers (pretty much anything vegetable actually), TV show Dora and Diego, treat cake and chocolate. Dislikes – chicken (unless hidden in her food) :) having to leave the play park. She is adventurous and brave while being loving and generous. She adores her sisters and often almost kills them with kindness or tackle cuddles!

Physically she has light brown hair and green/blue eyes. She is wearing 2-3 year old clothes and size 6 shoes, still has 4 back molars to come through and has a cute smile.

We are so proud of her and love her more than we can say. She is such a blessing to our family.

Anna Jane Grace we love you, happy 2^nd birthday.

Birth



One Year
Picture to follow, once we find it!

Two Years

Busy month

June is always a busy month for us as the beginning of the month is our anniversary and the end of the month is two of the girls birthdays. It is also the wind up to the school summer holidays.

As usual our anniversary was upon us before we knew it and as we were hosting 2 campaigners again this year we had a low key celebration. We fed the girls some leftovers for dinner and once they were in bed we ordered Chinese and watched Blindside, an amazing movie which I recommend everyone watching. It was a relaxing evening and it was nice to take a break from the kitchen. That was our 6th Anniversary. As per usual we didn't think about taking pictures.