Fin's fifth

The birthday boy


Half the party pals posing in the garden


Chocolate finger & crisps pizza

Tree climbing

Joe's 8th birthday

Joe turned 8 on June 6th and celebrated by going along to Urquhart Castle with his grandparents and best friend and his family. They were re-enacting a siege on the castle which Joe and his friend loved then we went to a great forest to play at the park and have his birthday cake. When we got home after a very long day the pizza dough had leaked all over the breadmaker and couldn't be used so I had to go out and buy some yucky pizza from the supermarket to keep the birthday boy happy. Today he was baptised at Inverness chapel so was thrilled to be able to do that.

Happy 10th Birthday Mhairi

Mhairi turned 10 on May 31st and decided she wanted to have a party this year so we had 9 girls and Fin running wild round the garden for the longest party ever...we collected the first birthday guest at 10am and she finaly left at 6pm! Fortunately the weather was very kind to us and so it was fun, fun , fun. We opened presents, played a dressing up game where i was forced to join in, played the mars bar game and did a photo treasure hunt.

Easter Fun

We had a great Easter weekend with Dave's sister Grace. We made Easter nests, an Easter tree (which I have wanted to do for a few years but never known how...until now), rolled our hard boiled Easter eggs, had a chocolate Easter egg hunt, played lots and lots of tennis on the drive with the kids (even in our pjamas!), went for some nice walks and ate lots of delicious chocolate (including a giant chocolate bunny which Grace brought up for the kids). The weather was very kind to us over the whole 2 1/2 week period and so Easter weekend was a great end to the happy holiday.

Goodbye old friend

We recently put our old Peugeot 806 in for it's annual MOT and was told by our mechanic that it was no longer road worthy and we should scrap it. We were a bit shocked at the time and even more shocked to be told we'd only get £60 for it! We've since been looking for a 2 year old car but have had no luck so far, we reckon people must be holding on to their cars longer than normal due to the financial crisis which is affecting all of us. We hope to find something soon. In the meantime we've downsized to an estate car which feels dinky compared to our old faithful roomy Peugeot 806.

Sleepover fun

Mum, Mhairi and Elena

Dad, Finlay and Elena

Mhairi had a sleepover on Friday with her friend Elena. It was a lovely evening so we took our canoe to the beach and had a wee paddle around for some fun sleepover memories. I hope word doesn't get round that that's the usual sleepover pattern now...otherwise there'll be a few unhappy girls!

Finlay decided to do some surfing too--water temperature 7 degrees.

He kept at it for about 45 minutes

Summer's on the way

My friend Jeni and I are the only mums in the village who wear Teva sandals. We always joke to each other about who'll be the first to get their sandals on and this year it was me. Usually once the Tevas are on they don't come off until the autumn but since it's meant to be snowing this coming week i'm not sure that will hold true this year...unless she's tougher than me! I always feel brighter when the sun appears with a little warmth in it and I can get my Tevas on again. This year I decided to take a photo of our feet to mark the occasion (you'll see from the photo that she managed to get her shorts out before me though).

Homecoming 2009

- 6 out of 6 cousins -

My little sister Missy recently visited Scotland with her family for 10 days, it was great to see them and watch the cousins interacting together. Here's a few pictures to remind us of our happy times together.

- 5 out of 6 cousins all in a row -

- Preston, Joe, Fin and Dave riding the canons at Stirling Castle -

- A line of cousins at Stirling castle -

- Addison looking after Mhairi's teeth -

- A rare cuddle with Addison -

- Addison trying out Mhairi's glasses for size -

- Missy, mum and me in our dining room -

Twister

Last Sunday we never made it to church because the road was too snowy so instead we finally got round to writing some of our Christmas thank you cards and playing twister. We had a great time, no injuries (although I'm not convinced Dave was trying very hard) and we all ended up with smiles on our faces. I was glad of my yoga stretches which I used to do each week!

- Joe -

- Fin -

- Mhairi (must have her mothers flexibility) -

- Me -

- Dave -

Update

I've been putting this off because we've had so much on in the last few months that I really don't know where to start. Instead of having to think too much I've decided to post some pictures.

Dave out on a very wet hike with the Beavers early in October. He set up and now runs Beaver scouts in the village after being disappointed at the lack of activities for Joe in the village.

Mhairi showing off our lovely autumn colours on the trees around our home.

Autumn, my favourite time of year, I love the variations of colours in the trees.

We had a wee walk near Falkland in the October holidays with my mum. It was drizzling rain and everyone was getting fed up but Dave was determined to get to a secret location which "will be worth it" and it truly was.

We had a lovely visit Linlithgow Palace in the October holidays with the Black family and then went back to their place and had some yummy food and a nice chat/play.

Joe and Fin hiding from dad.

A rare picture of Joe and Fin smiling while in each others company!

Grandma & Grandad on a nice walk at Blughasary.

Finlay & I invited our good friends Rachel and Tamsin for a walk and picnic up the hill on a sunny day in October. Tamsin is one of Fin's best friends.

Mhairi and her friends Elena and Meghan guising at Hallowe'en.

Joe, Fin and some other Ullapool guisers on Hallowe'en night. Our favourite costume was the two girls on the right joined together in a t-shirt, apparently they needed a few days apart after spending the night invading one anothers private space!

Finlay and his friend Culann sledging in the garden in November.

Mhairi, Fin and Erin after sand duning at Gruniard Bay in December.

Mhairi in front of the Christmas tree.

Christmas morning.

Playing in the smow at Grandma's house on a snow ski.