Flying Nunns

Winter Things

2011-12-20T04:08:00.002-06:00

Here's another long overdue update... I suppose that is pretty much the norm now, but these three boys do take an awful lot of time to tend :D First here's Henry in one of his many, many, many outfits - then asking me to take his photo.

Philip having a play on Grandad's model railway.

I can't believe how grown up he looks sometimes.

George took a while to get over his water phobia, but playing in the sink at Grandma and Grandad's house has helped quite a lot.

More grown-up looking Philip.

George climbing all over me at the playground.

Henry on the swinging zipline thing, in the freezing cold, without a coat. As usual.

Us.

George still loves to escape out of an open door, even at 6am in winter.

Philip and Henry play spy games a lot.

Philip had to dress as a WW2 evacuee for school, I loved this outfit on him.

Henry stole the hat for posing and photographs though, of course.

My bestest best friend came over for four short days, and spent a lot of time playing with the boys.

And kissing my cheeks.

George's first bath, EVER, at nearly a year and a half old. Glad that horrible water phobia stage is over.

Henry as one of the Three Kings for his nativity play at school.

Philip was a backup dancer at his Nativity play and I could not for the life of me get a good photo, but here he is doing a little but shaking dance. :D

George looking very grownup and very curly, now that I can bathe him his hair is finally looking normal.

MORE posing.

And this, this is less than 24 hours after cleaning this room. I am BUSY.

Ickworth, Take Two.

2011-10-28T14:16:00.002-05:00

The weather has just been a little too perfect while the boys have been off school for a week, so we went off to Ickworth again. This time we wandered around different parts of the estate though, and left a few hours later happy, exhausted, and STILL not having seen nearly all of the place. I love places like that.

Can this little man POSE or what?

Boys with sticks.

It is rare to get a photo lately of him NOT making a face, so I'm in love with this one.

They aren't looking at the camera, but I still love this one.

More sticks. As always.

George likes to wander off by himself.

We LOVE Ickworth.

Miscellaneous October

2011-10-27T13:18:00.002-05:00

This is a toy that Philip made for Henry, a little paper bag filled with cutouts of Doctor Who characters. :)

This photo typifies George. He is standing on a very thin window ledge in this. He is always, ALWAYS, climbing something, grabbing something dangerous, eating something dangerous, and then climbing some more. It drives us insane... and he always does it with a laugh and a smile on his face.

Philip & Henry trying out their Halloween costumes.

I do not know why this photo won't straighten out, I've tried! So just tilt your head a little to see the cuteness.

And finally... another example of the creative way in which Henry dresses himself. :)

Day Out at Ickworth House

2011-10-27T13:06:00.001-05:00

The boys are on half term holiday from school this week, and early on in the week my friend Elspeth and I took our 6 collective boys over to Ickworth House to have a wander around in the forests there, and have a picnic.

The boys have got their badges and maps ready, and went on a small treasure hunt (pinecones, feathers, etc) before doing exploring of their own.

I was able to keep George tethered for most of the time, until the end when he had loads of running around time at the playground. Here you see Archie trying to put a wellie on George's foot.

It is hard to tell, but this is also Archie wandering alone in the woods.

Elspeth and her boys exploring.... something. I didn't ask, I just took a photo!

Miscellaneous Cuteness

2011-09-29T05:45:00.002-05:00

There are a few new posts below this one if you are catching up, but this post is really just to do some general catching up! Below we've got Philip practicing some pool skills at a lovely old pub where our friend Charlie works.

This is more of that pub, which is just too pretty for words.

Afterwards we walked around Flatford Mill a bit.

Another Big, Medium, Small picture :)

George chews on everything, still... even grubby feet.

One of my recent embroideries.

My summer blooming garden, or part of it anyway!

We've got the coolest tree in our garden.

George wearing something that both Philip & Henry wore - and looking happy :)

Two peas in a pod.

Philip & Henry made jet packs out of toilet roll tubes and string, and had days of fun with them.

Cuddles before naptime.

Preparing for jumping in muddy puddles.

They got SOAKED.

What it looks like when I try to take a nice picture of us all.

Henry teaching George some lightsabre skills.

Growing up too fast!!

I surprised the boys one day and took them to Bressingham for the day.

George is by FAR the messiest kid we've had. He is filthy.

Henry doing one of his favorite tasks, helping me cook dinner.

And here he is dressing himself again.

George adding to a photo by picking his nose at just the right time.

Henry is now in school full time every day like a proper Big Boy! He loves it, especially as he gets to see Philip so much during the day now.

We went down to Abbey Gardens in Bury for a picnic one afternoon.

Such a beautiful day, and a beautiful spot to eat.

Old enough for his own bag of crisps??

George & Henry wrestling.

Walking off to the playground now...

I love this one of Philip & George together.

They've got a fantastic tree house and bridge for the big boys to play on.

They loved it. :)

Fun Fair

2011-09-29T04:37:00.002-05:00

We took the boys to a fun fair over the weekend, one of the best parts was watching Philip doing this bungee-jumping trampoline thing. If I hadn't been wearing a skirt I'd have been right there with him... maybe next time!

George look particularly grow up, and showing me a shoe that he had been chewing on.

A good word to describe George is Independent. He won't hold hands, he hates his pushchair, and you basically just have to follow him around while he wanders the world on his own.

Henry looking messy and sweet, and once again wearing his favorite pink shirt.

The boys shooting cork guns for prizes.

Eating ice cream and examining some old machinery.

Big, medium, and small.

Eating a leaf?!?!

I snuck up on Henry hiding behind a tree, trying to keep his ice cream away from George.

Family Party

2011-09-29T03:56:00.002-05:00

It took me a while to get used to the new way blogger works behind the scenes, and then I ran out of photo storage! But everything is back up and running again, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. First, we had a small family party for Nicholas who turned 18 recently. I'll put the other photos in different posts!

Lindy, Alex, Philip & Henry having a massive lightsabre / gunfight.

Henry, looking beyond awesome.

Lindy giving George a ride in Great Grandma's walker.

Lindy & David plotting something.

Nicholas helping the boys in the jeep.

I love the look of laughter on Henry's face in this one.

2 big boys (18 and 16) and 2 little boys (7 and 4)

George looking serious, and filthy.

Robert and Great Grandpa doing some cooking.

I included this one because look what George is playing with that I didn't notice. Nice.

We had a lovely meal outside.

Great Grandma & Great Grandpa

George & Alex doing battle.

A big chunk of summer.

2011-07-26T12:31:00.008-05:00

Now that I update so many photos to facebook, I find it hard to remember to update this place! But I like to put different photos on here, and I love being able to flip through the last 6 or so years and see the boys grow. so here's the latest catch up!

Some flowers from my garden:

Philip's birthday card for me:

Boys, dressed as daleks, play fighting. I wouldn't have have a photo of real punching... maybe...

My little brother Andrew came for a 2 weeks visit and I took him on the obligatory tour through London:

We had about 4 days of hot summer weather (which was fine by me, I hate the heat!) and the boys played with the hose and paddling pool quite a lot, which made their hair and lovely and curly:

A little trick Philip & I discovered:

The paddling pool:

David wrestling with the boys at the river bank:

Terry wrestling with the boys in the kitchen (I wonder where David gets it from):

George eating dirt, as he does:

Henry pouting over his chocolate ice cream being gone:

Down at the Ferry.... I LOVE the look on Henry's face here:

I'm getting the evil eye:

The boys are on their 6 week summer holiday right now, and they've been allowed to sleep in sleeping bags in the livingroom a few times:

Philip helping out with George Duties:

Henry posing on his last day of preschool. He starts full time in a few weeks!!! :( :(

George had his first birthday!!

And got cake all over the place.

Here he is, cleaner, on the day of his birthday:

We all went to an airshow too:

Which was near a birds of prey centre:

And oh... look, the photos stopped! I've ignored the kids long enough now, gotta go continue tending to them. :)

A quick trip to Norfolk

2011-06-06T12:09:00.009-05:00

We had a quick little holiday this weekend, going up to the coast in Norfolk to see the beach, see some trains, and watch Terry have a "driving experience" day where he was taught how to run a steam engine!

This is the guy that Terry got to run.

Engineer Grandad.

The boys had seen a signal box before, but never one that was properly functioning.

It was super, super cool.

And of course, Philip made friends with the signalman and asked him 307 questions.

Philip's new best friend.

While we were on the platform, I took this photo of David & George... isn't it the best thing ever?

Part of the station.

Philip & the Guard making friends too.

Buffers.

The train coming from Sheringham.

The boys peeking into the signal box.

Henry getting comfortable on the journey.

George doing the same.

Look at this guy. Change the color of his dungarees, change the color of his hat, give him an Italian accent instead of an English one... and he's Super Mario!

And finally Terry takes the train away!!

We also got to spend some time by the sea down near Blakeney & Salthouse. Grandma was on duty to remove stones from shoes.

8 duckings, 2 ducks, and 3 rabbits all in one photo.

"Rascal" is exactly right.

An old windmill turned into a National Trust residence.

Amazing roadside strawberries.

All that is left of the old Blakeney Guildhouse.

Blakeney.

And then over to Salthouse, which I adored. I had forgotten how lovely the sound of the sea was, and even though it was freezing cold the boys loved running away from the waves.

Late spring, nearly summer already!

2011-06-02T02:03:00.007-05:00

I didn't even try to put these pictures in a sensible order, so you'll just have to bear with me! We've been having gorgeous weather here in the East of England, sunny days in the 70s with very little rain. The farms & gardens around here are pretty parched, but the people seem quite happy with a very atypical English spring. :)

Here's one corner of our garden with our newest toy - a big train that my father in law built for the boys! More pictures of that later I think...

My roses are in bloom...

So are these ridiculously fragrant sweet peas...

The the japonica...

And my favorite gigantic orange poppy...

And my pink lilies...

And my peonies...

And my weird curly-leafed tree that I adore...

And now perhaps some non-garden stuff. :) Here is David playing a racing game with Philip.

Oh and here we have Terry and Helper Henry building the train.

Mr. Helper.

George is happiest when he's outside, and here he is waving a big HELLO.

Henry & I painted this on his day off school last week.

George trying out Uncle Phil's wheelchair for the first time, it won't be long before he's an expert like his brothers are.

My morning milk.

George with his best friend, Terry.

George and his favorite activity, hunting for soil and rocks to eat.

More practice on my new hobby, embroidery.

Gorgeous Philip & Henry. Philip was been super busy with Scouts, swimming, playdates, archery, and fencing... so he's mysteriously absent from a big chunk of photos this month! I'll have to do a Philip-shoot soon. :)

George is RIDICULOUSLY messy. Just look at those fingernails. Too bad he hates baths more than anything in the universe.

But he does love his Philip. These two are the cutest things together, thick as thieves.

Family photos

2011-05-06T15:47:00.008-05:00

We've had some family events recently, so it is time to show off the family... and I'm naming names in these because we've got a few recently discovered relatives that might pop in to look at the photos. :) (hi!)

Today was Sydney's 89th birthday (Great/Grandpa) and we went over to his place to have ice cream cakes. Jill is feeding the begging baby some of the ice cream here.

The happy birthday boy:

From left to right here we've got Big Philip, Jill, My Philip, Alex is standing holding George, then Grandma and Grandpa.

Can you see everyone's teeny little heads? :) In this one we still have Phil, Jill, Philip, Alex, George, Iris & Sydney... then Nicholas, Robert, Terry, Lindy, and David holding Henry.

Terry (aka Santa on Vacation)

Grandma and Grandpa with their two girls, Jill on the left and Lindy on the right.

Nicholas, Alex, and a very honked-off looking Philip.

Nice pose, Alex.

I'm actually *in* a picture. David and I with George, Philip & Henry.

Grandma & Grandpa

Jill & Terry

Lindy & Jill getting loads of smiles out of George

Grandma Iris, Grandpa Sydney, Lindy, Jill, Terry & Robert

My boys adore Alex & Nicholas, but here Robert picks up some of the play duties and pulls Philip around the garden on the digger.

Terry & Robert with George

Lindy

Jill

I love the look on Henry's face in this, as they are playing with Alex

And I'm putting in a few more random ones... Philip won a prize in this year's Easter bonnet parade at school because of this hat that I made for him. I'm pretty happy it won him a prize because I only remembered to make him a hat at 7pm the night before!

I *loved* watching the Royal Wedding from England, it made me feel so patriotic about living in my adopted country and all of its beautiful history & pageantry... so I made a little lunch and had a friend over while we watched!

I took this one this afternoon, the byos made a play tent in Jill & Terry's garden. :)

And finally, here is George after church this last Sunday, crawling around while I helped clean up the mess I made during craft time. :)

Beautiful weather.

2011-04-21T15:02:00.006-05:00

We've had a few weeks of beautiful, beautiful sunny weather - and so we've tried to enjoy it as much as possible particularly since the boys are on a 2 week holiday from school!

Philip adores George, and he's taken it upon himself to be George's first teacher. He has loved taking George outside, exploring the grass with him, and carrying him around the world to show him things. It makes for some very sweet photographs like this one.

We went out for a day in Cambridge the other day, I had to take the first part of my drivers license test (which I passed!) and the day was so nice we just stayed and hung out. We took the boys out for a bit of lunch too.

Here's another of Philip carting George around.

My feet, naked and enjoying the sun.

George, eating grass.

Henry, looking and acting exactly like Henry. He dresses himself mainly, and sometimes he looks normal but most of the time he looks like this:

On another day, I took the three boys for a surprise trip on the train. We just went down the line one stop and came right back, but they loved it. Here they are inspecting the tickets - - and in the background is one of my favorite things about England this time of year. The bright, beautiful, almost neon fields of yellow dotted around.

On the train, George did some exercises.

I think this photo is good simply because this is what Henry almost always looks like when I point the camera at him.

The big boys eating their breakfast outside one morning.

Here Philip helpfully reaches down to take a stick out of George's mouth that I had no idea was there until I looked at the photos a few minutes later.

Biggest and Littlest:

Cheekiest:

Riding the digger around our garden.

George, hunting for a snack. This boy seriously LOVES chewing on shoes and rocks. Which, you know, isn't brilliant.

Oh and another of the Biggest teaching the Littlest.

I've taught myself to do some applique, and in this photo Philip is drawing little flowers around it to make the photograph seem more interesting!

George showing off his two big teeth...

And using them. Aside from stones and shoes, he loves to chomp on a sock. Whether it is on your foot or not.

All squished together.

Squished together again.

And again.

Philip riding his bike down to the pub one afternoon.

Dressed up as a Roman for the Easter assembly at school.

And finally, a picture of Jeff the Blackbird. This bird is literally stalking the family, having flown in 8 times. When it isn't flying into our house or looking in the windows, he's outside hovering in my garden. I must have 20 different photos with Jeff in them. Here's one of them, with him annoyingly hovering right where I'd just sown some seeds.

We've got a lot going on for the 4 day holiday weekend, and then more the weekend after that with more holiday time, so plenty of more photos to come!

Three cute kids.

2011-04-04T03:54:00.004-05:00

Philip turned seven yesterday. SEVEN! I'll do a post later about the train cake, I just realized I never put last years train cake process up and I've done SO many of them now. So I'll do that little collection later. This year's cake is sloppy, but if you ignore the bumpy icing I think it turned out really well.

Philip is turning out to be a man of real personality. Well, he always was I suppose! But he's getting very picky about his clothes and he's decided he wants to be the kind of guy who wears ties. He wants to look smart all the time. So he got some dress clothes for his birthday this year, and generously let Henry wear one. Here you see what happens when I let Henry dress himself for church - a bit mismatched! What you can't see is that he's also wearing one orange sock and one green sock. :)

Here's the grown-up little man himself, wearing a new shirt & tie and a new leather jacket. He kept wandering around saying "I feel like I'm twelve!"

I love this little man.

And here you see his chopped up smile, he's losing teeth left and right.

On top of it being Philip's birthday, yesterday was also mother's day here in England and the boys bought me flowers for the garden.

And made me cards. The one on the right was sewn by Philip with no help!

And...... we have a crawler. This little man is *insane*. He's only been crawling a week or so and now he's already pulling himself up to his knees and finding every cable, every dangerous thing possible to chew on. Philip was an early crawler and a handful as well... Henry was so easy we nearly forget that whole process... and George? Well he seems to want to put Philip to shame in the handful category!

Also, notice how he has one big fat curl on the top of his head? God we make cute kids.

Beautiful days outside

2011-03-21T05:23:00.009-05:00

I'm finally getting around to changing the image at the top of the page up there - so have some patience while I experiment with my software and figure it out! It will look ugly for a while!! :)

...

The weather is getting so nice over here, I really love England in the Spring! I've been doing loads of gardening and spending time outside with the boys. This weekend we had a lovely time in the garden, then out to Ely.

George is watching Philip & Henry put on a pretend fireworks show.

Philip shows George the "fireworks gun" - which is really a Star Wars nerf gun - and teaches him about nerf gun safety.

Then Philip takes a break to make George giggle by sounding the horn on a little toy.

Shortly into the fireworks display, Philip accidentally shot himself in the face, which he found amusing.

They spent ages doing this. Philip loads up the gun...

Shoot it in the air, and they pretend it is a firework. I've got about a dozen nerf bullets on our roof now.

We also spent a day out in Ely, which is always nice for David & I as we spent a lot of time living there together, and it was where we lived when Philip was born. here, David & Philip arm wrestle at a pub.

This pub.

Loads and loads of birds nesting...

Loads and loads of Spring trees in bloom...

I've been to the Ely Cathedral so many times, I tried to take some photos this time of things I'd never paid attention to before, like this box over near the priory.

We also went down by the river and had a picnic, then a play in the grass.

And then it was back home for some more time outside. Henry put on a little show with his sword and shield, this gives you some idea of the display...

:) :) :) :) :)

Keeping me on my toes.

2011-03-14T14:55:00.003-05:00

Oh the last few weeks have been interesting! Henry had a series of bad things including (but not limited to) a concussion and subsequent ambulance ride to the hospital, an ear infection, and a black eye. Philip has been doing archery lessons, had his first sleepover with Scouts (he's in Beaver Scouts), playdates and chemistry experiments. George has had various non serious illnesses, but it means his usual restless sleep-interrupted nights have been even more sleep-interrupted! Also, he can't crawl yet but he can move across the floor. I've learned how to drive and am studying up for my tests, I'm teaching myself how to embroider, running a lot more errands now that I have wheels, and have become the official craft organizer for the weekly kids club at church. And, wouldn't you know it, David has had a string of trips abroad.

So yes.... busy!! :D All this and my garden is waking up, so I'll be spending hours out there sorting it out!

Photos photos photos....

Henry as a Dalek, with Grandads glasses on. Henry's head is so ginormous that adult glasses fit him just fine. :)

I took this photo on Sunday, which was the one year anniversary of us moving to England. A year! Already!!

All three boys up in Philip's top bunk... I think George looks so grown up now!

Some of my crocus blooming

Some of my hyacinth blooming

Glowing Henry

Smiling almost-crawling boy

February already??

2011-02-19T04:40:00.007-06:00

Dalek Birthday Cake and Babies in Boxes

2011-01-27T14:04:00.006-06:00

I tried to get these photos into some kind of order, but it didn't work very well! Anyway... Henry is finally 4 years old! Impossible to believe sometimes how fast this is going. We had a little party for him at Jill & Terry's house the weekend before the big day, and then he got to open a few more gifts up on his actual birthday. He looooooved everything he got - he's so easy to please anyway since he loves so many different things, it makes it really fun!

Here is my friend Heidi on George Duty...

This is the Dalek cake I made. I toyed with the idea of making a big 3D Dalek cake, but then someone slapped some sense into me. So I "cheated" again and just did a drawing on a regular cake. Henry adored it, that is all that matters!

Here was my work station the night before, with homemade icing in various shades of grey and some store-bought icing for the body color... and of course the dalek toy I was copying.

And this is the first step, when I drew out the basic design with black icing and toothpicks.

Here is Birthday Boy and Philip being silly opening up the gifts he got on his actual birthday.

Here are the kids from the party over the weekend

Philip at the food table watching me decapitate the dalek.

A happy, gorgeous, amazing little boy.

And....... this. :)

And this. :)

Philip is learning how to knit, and it is cah-RAZY how easily and quickly he is picking it up. He doesn't need very much help from Jill at all.

Oh and here we've got Philip helping me make the sausage rolls for the birthday party.

Philip teaching George about a game he plays on my blackberry.

Baby in a box!!!!

Now for some things that aren't green.

2011-01-18T13:56:00.006-06:00

Philip chewing on a rusk 6 years ago...

Philip's clone George chewing on a rusk 6 days ago.

Philip dressed Henry up in the school uniforms he has outgrown, so that they could pretend to be in school together.

Sleeping in David's arms.

Protecting George while Henry & David has a light saber fight.

Henry sitting outside our kitchen door in wellies, pajama bottoms, a high-vis jacket under his coat, sitting in the freezing cold wind blowing bubbles.

George at 6 months old.

Me, with my new glasses. So I can DRIVE, which I'm learning how to do here finally!!

My garden in the winter.

2011-01-18T08:06:00.007-06:00

I've changed a lot of things about my garden in the 9 months we've been in this house, and today seemed like a good day to do a little chronicling since just this morning I noticed loads of new bulbs coming out... spring is coming!

The biggest change I've made is in the area where I cut the trees down, but I can't find the photos of it just now, so I'll update about that bit later.

This is the side entryway to our place, as it was when we moved in. All of the overhead things are badly overgrown plants from next door that needed trimming, even though they made a lovely little tunnel for us. The very thin border below was completely covered in stones and ivy, the fence was covered in a climbing/spreading plant that was poorly pruned and mostly dead.

This is the same area now, although taken from the other side. I've cleared the fence of the dead things, cut down masses of gunky ivy, cleared all the stones from the border to reveal actual planting area, filled it with wallflowers that will bloom this spring, transplanted a shrub to the area in the back so it will cover some of the water tank, and this spring I intend on planting some kind of clematis to start climbing where the old dead thing used to climb.

This is the same area, but just beyond the metal gate. I finished clearing this only this morning. it has two kinds of flowers here, but I don't know what kind one of them is. It is small, green, bushy, and flowers almost all spring and summer long. But it had gone mental and taken over the whole area. So I cut back and split some of the plants, replanting them in random areas in the garden to see how they do. Now there should be more space for the columbine/aqualegia that also grow here - they are massive 4 feet tall beautiful things and should start popping through the ground any day now.

I don't know what this thing is, but it was smothered in overgrown mint when I moved in, and I left it for dead. But it is clearly still alive, just hanging around, so I'm interested in seeing what it turns into. Two inches or so to the left of this plant was a massive, massive peony bush. well, two of them actually. That space is not beig enough for how huge those plants got, so a few weeks ago I lifted them, split them, gave a bit to my mother in law to see if it will grow for her too, and transplanted it into 3 separate areas in the garden - hopefully one of them will take. In the space left behind I've planted a bunch of spring bulbs, but I don't remember which kind.

The kids "help" me in this.

This is the very, very beginning of a beautiful pink lily I have. It did so, so well last year.. and it was the first plant I ever put into this garden, so I'm keen on seeing how it goes this year.

This area, despite what it looks like, has actually been trimmed back. Tons. Several times. After digging and digging through overgrowth I found the fence, and also found that the 2 overgrown offenders (ivy and holly) actually belonged to my garden! I thought they were the neighbors. The holly is actually planted BEHIND that shed, in a space about 4 inches wide. The neighbors do have a wisteria that peeks over our fence in the summer, it is so pretty. My plan for this area is to finish clearing it, move the pile of mystery bricks into the garage, and find some plantable land under there.

Here is my camelia rhododendron thing. not sure what it is, I bought it from a guy in a market who didn't know what type it was, so I'm waiting for it to flower. Had to learn about ericacious compost for this little guy.

One corner of the garden had SEVEN of these all planted together, so I've split them up. This one is on the other side of the place completely, but seems to have survived.

These are coming up where the trees used to be. There are loads of them, no idea what they are yet, another surprise! This whole bed will be a real mystery this year, the entire bed was covered with the trees and a massively overgrown lavender, and there are so many things that just sat there waiting for some sun that will be showing themselves this year finally.

My crocus is coming out - the first bulbs I ever planted.

I cut back my weird curly tree too...

These are my hyacinth coming out, the ones the boys bought me for mothers day last year - which was also the first day of our new lives here in England. So very special, I'm glad they've survived!

Philip's train planter still has some winter pansies blooming away.

I cut all these shrubs back, and the acer in the foreground. These shrubs were over the roof of the sheds when I got here, it took a lot of time to realize what was even in there since it took so long to clear. There is actually a forsythia in the corner there, no idea if it will bloom this spring but I really hope so!

More bulbs coming up. No idea what they are, I mixed all my bulbs up and planted them in weird places so that it would be a surprise for me in the spring. I'[m so glad I did it that way, it is fun!

Here is a closer look at my wallflowers, these are supposed to be a gorgeous red when they bloom, they seem to have handled the snow and cold well enough, though a few of them did get bent.

And thats it for now. I need to find the photos of the pre & post tree removal project, and then I'll post more when things come into bloom. I love this little garden!

Mid January.

2011-01-11T14:06:00.005-06:00

One time my little brother Andrew and I got bored, felt silly, and decided to wrap our mom in toilet paper. Familiar with our ridiculous sense of humor, and full of it herself, she just stood there without moving and let us wrap her up like a toilet paper mummy without question. And then let me take her photograph.

Today marks the 4th year since her death. Instead of writing here, of going over the process of grief or sharing memories... instead of wringing my heart out this evening I am going to spend the evening quietly missing her, and writing her a letter instead. I loved that crazy lady, I still do, and I miss her something fierce.

A favorite plaything.

2010-12-14T04:28:00.004-06:00

We have a playmat that we bought for Philip when he was tiny, and we've kept it these last 6 years. It moved with us back to America, and then it moved with us back to England. And I've loved seeing all three boys play on it.

Here is Philip enjoying it first...

Then Henry...

And now George...

Frost and Things

2010-12-08T01:22:00.005-06:00

So we have had some snow over here, but we got lucky and haven't had the disruptions and cancellations that other parts of the UK have been stuck with. Just a nice, pretty, wintery snow - and some beautiful frost. Here is some of the frost in my garden...

Philip and I made some Christmas decorations with paper and string...

George is chewing on everything in sight, waiting for his first teeth to pop through...

Henry and George took some sweet photos together, but Henry likes this one best where it looks like George is eating his face...

Philip had his first Christmas play, George sat and happily bounced through the whole thing...

Here's the little Bethlehem Villager...

George chilling out at home...

Philip is reading George & Henry a bedtime story up in Philip's top bunk bed...

And before all of that, we had Thanksgiving! It went off without a hitch and all 30+ people seemed to like the food well enough. here Georgine & James eat some pudding while George sleeps between them...

Georgina (another one!) also has a sleeping George on her...

Here is some of the yummy food I made...

Topping it all off with a lightsaber fight between an 88 year old and a 3 year old...

And next we've got Christmas! LOVE Christmas!! :)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:34:00.005-06:00

Today I am thankful for my best friend who has been with me through both the best and the hardest parts of my life, who knows me better than I know myself sometimes, and who I love dearly.

Today I am thankful for England. I love this country, I feel so at home here, and I am a lucky, lucky girl to be able to live here and raise my boys to be lovely Englishmen.

Today I am thankful for my mother and father in law. They are so brilliant, so present, so involved and interested in my boys' lives. They have been my right hand for the last 8 months, especially when David is travelling, and I am lucky and thankful to have married into this family.
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Today I am thankful for my mom and dad. My mother is so present during this holiday, i see her and feel her in everything I do. And I'm thankful for the life she lived, and for the woman she raised me to be. I am thankful for my dad who is, was, and will always be a hero, friend, mentor, and just a plain brilliant father.

Today I am thankful for my husband. I knew he'd be a good dad before we even had kids... but I couldn't have known how ridiculously brilliant he'd be at it. I am thankful for the family he has helped me build, for how hard he works to give us a comfortable life, for his friendship, his love... after all these years I'd still choose him. I'm thankful we were both at the same bar that night we met. :)

Today I am thankful for Philip, my first, my biggest, my train-mad little genius. I am thankful for his sweetness, his curiosity, his conversation, his company.

Today I am thankful for Henry. Thankful for the doctors and nurses that kept him alive during his first few fragile weeks. Thankful for the crazy, hilarious, tender, personality-filled little boy he has turned into. I am thankful for the laughter he brings to us, the songs he sings, our time cooking together and the cuddles he now reserves only for David & I.

Today I am thankful for George. For the little, perfect boy we thought we might not get. For the healthy pregnancy and birth that came along with him. For his softness, his sweetness, his gentle quiet nature that bring me such peace and calmness and joy. I am thankful for the happy little bow he's tied on the family, that our last baby is such a remarkably perfect one.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Holiday crafts and preparations

2010-11-22T04:55:00.003-06:00

Right! Life is slightly back to normal now that the trip to the US is over and all the dust has settled. I'm having a big Thanksgiving this weekend for the UK family and friends - even though we're having it on the following Saturday it still feels appropriately holiday-ish and I'm super excited! The kids and I have been doing holiday crafts, trying to take the Christmas card photo, and doing organizing & tidying around the house to get ready for the season.

But first of all, here is Philip just looking gorgeous, as he does.

This is an outtake from the holiday card...

As is this one, where Henry needed to take a break to have an imaginary phone conversation...

A crate of apples from my mother-in-law's garden that got peeled and cooked for pies and baby food...

One of the bright paper chains the kids made...

A craft Philip made just for me... :)

The garden needed a big tidy-up, and I got a big chunk of pruning, sweeping, and clipping done... I love that I'm still gardening in November, where back in the US we'd be under snow by now!

And we've been doing a lot of toy tidying and organizing as well, as the playroom floors have looked like this a bit too much lately...

Just pictures!! :)

2010-11-14T11:27:00.007-06:00

Countdown beginning...

2010-10-11T13:52:00.008-05:00

We're heading back to the US in 9 days for a 3-state family visiting extravaganza - I'll be keeping up with loads of photos on here. Until then, here's what we've been up to lately:

I caught a sneak peek of Terry walking George around the back garden and having a chat...

Jill took this of George & I...

And this one, in which he looks almost exactly like Philip did in a similarly posed photo. Honestly, I need to do a side-by-side photo thing for George and Philip because there are times when they are identical!

Big Philip & Little Philip:

Philip draws the picture on wood, and Terry cuts it out using a big power saw. Yesterday Philip decided to put some values on them, ranging from 1p to 100 pounds!

My days are loud...

They are also filled with super cuteness...

We went to Ickworth House and met the great grandparents there for the Wood Fair - it was gorgeous! Philip apparently has a bit of my camera bug, here he is taking photos of the traction engine...

And Terry gave Henry a quick lesson on his camera too...

Here he is carrying one of the many many "guns" he finds throughout the day, "shooping" bad guys and strangers...

Philip showing one of his complicated lego creations, this is some kind of power generator and SD card carrier...

Henry will be dressing up as one of his FAVORITE things in the world, a Dalek from Dr. Who... I've taken a hundred photos of him in the costume but this is my favorite I think...

George playing with the same toy that both Philip & Henry loved at this age...

Three months old!! He's really underweight because feeding has been a pain since he was tongue tied, but now that it has been cut he's doing much better and finally gaining a bit of weight - happy as a clam though! Super smiley, easy going, calm, happy....

Philip loved Henry's Dalek costume so much that he decided he wanted to be a Dalek for Halloween as well - here he is on the livingroom PC (which he thinks is his) doing a Paint drawing of a Dalek while dressed up as one...

Love this one of Henry because you can see his beloved froggy boots poking out from the bottom...

And finally, here is another photo of George looking exactly like a photo I have of Philip at that age...

The end of the summer...

2010-09-20T05:00:00.005-05:00

Look who is smiling now, and who has his US passport! :)

Philip is looking so grown up lately...

We've been seeing loads of rainbows in the last few weeks, this one was a complete rainbow I just couldn't get the whole thing in frame...

One of Philip's recent train drawings...

Once of George's first smiles, sorry it is a sideways photo!

Philip's first day of Year 2...

The boys on a special trip to Sheringham to see the trains...

The staircase I climbed to reach the top of our local church tower. I didn't think it was terrifying until I climbed down...

Philip showing off the train station doll's house he made with grandma...

I thought it was funny that this guy was playing in front of a lingerie display...

My best friend Sarah came over for a visit, we left Philip & Henry with the grandparents while we all took George into London to get his US passport. The tube isn't very pushchair friendly, here is Sarah & David carrying it down one of the many escalators!

Sarah getting some great smiles from George...

We had a truly English moment, getting stuck in a downpour while walking through Hyde Park...

Then had another one of those rainbows...

Here Sarah is with George at home...

George's first bath, which he LOVED...

The big boys looking very grownup...

I love this... Philip giving George his first train lesson...

We took Sarah into Bury St. Edmunds as well, and got some good photos of the ruins there...

zzzzzz

2010-08-15T09:12:00.005-05:00

We are happy, George is easy, the boys are out of school for the summer, and I'm exhausted. I'll sleep again one day, I'm sure of it. Here, have some photos... :)

George Anderson Nunn

2010-07-11T05:23:00.007-05:00

Born July 6, 2010 weighing a whopping 7 pounds 10 ounces. And completely perfect.

Nearly.......

2010-06-28T11:40:00.005-05:00

First things first... 37 weeks along with George:

At a picnic, Philip gnawing on a baguette like an animal:

Henry relaxing and eating his lunch laying down in the conservatory:

It has been very warm here, so we let the boys have a go with the hose and some water balloons in the in-laws' back garden:

And hey look! Philip lost his first tooth, and the second one came out the next morning:

Henry has his own bike now, and here he is racing Philip:

This is what happened after I was asked for a roll of toilet paper:

Our favorite pub by the river in Ely - where we used to live - we went there for a picnic on Father's Day.

Oh and it helps that there is a train bridge nearby for Philip to observe:

The boys at the park:

Our picnic spot, perfect for viewing and listening to the brass band that came along a few minutes later:

A duck family that found Henry, obviously knowing he'd "accidentally" drop things for them:

A photo describing their personalities pretty well:

The boys walking into Church on Father's Day:

Less than 4 weeks now...

2010-06-12T02:53:00.007-05:00

Well as you can see I'm trying to fiddle around with the design of this page - but have forgotten how to change the image at the top. Henry is still a baby in that design! I'll be fiddling around with that soon too, so be patient if the page looks wonky for a while.

Here I am at 34 weeks pregnant with George. This was the exact time that I gave birth to Henry prematurely, so we were very happy to see that day come and go safely. If this pregnancy continues to be a healthy one, he should be arriving on July 6th, which is about 2 weeks early. It is also less than 4 weeks away!!!

And now that I'm posting these photos, I can see Henry has been playing with my camera again and changed the resolution settings. Hmmm. Anyway, here are the boys playing in Grandma & Grandads back garden - they were playing a mix of baseball, cricket & football.

Also - this is what Philip looks like when we let him dress himself.

More playing...

And the birthday cake the boys made for me (it says Sara is 33 on it) - I had a really lovely birthday this year - the best one in years actually!

Monkey see monkey do...

Henry practising on a monkey - he's keen on helping me change George's nappy when it is time.

And this is what Henry looks like when he dresses himself.

Play-doh time...

Coming back from the pub...

Playing at Aunt Lindy's house...

Riding with Lindy in their tractor trailer, with Nicholas at the wheel...

And finall some photos from a guided tour we took of St Mary's church in Mildenhall...

lately....

2010-05-20T03:08:00.004-05:00

Here I am at 31 weeks pregnant with George:

The boys playing with a wooden labyrinth toy:

Henry struggling outside in the garden (in pajamas and wellies) to open apple juice:

Philip and I having a walk near our local church:

Having a walk:

Playing by some new containers in our garden:

2 paintings the boys made for their grandma & great grandpa's birthdays:

And the cake they made:

Surveying the cake:

Making the paintings:

Internet!

2010-04-28T05:47:00.009-05:00

Well we Finally have internet! We are living in our own place now, just a few doors down from my mother & father in law, and we love it. The boys are really happy here, I love the place - especially the garden - and everything is going well so far. :) It was a pain in the butt getting our internet up and running though, but now we should be sorted out which means I can get this thing updated more often. :) A quick run through of the last few weeks:

The boys & I toured around a WWII pillbox, and David gave Philip his first war lesson:

This isn't the best shot of Henry, the best one was one I took on my phone! But here he is on his first full day of school. He goes full days on Mondays and Wednesdays now, which seems very grown up!

Philip was ill with a bad fever and tonsillitis last week, and here he is getting some attention from Nurse Grandma:

David & Henry after a long day of shopping:

Me at 27 weeks pregnant with George:

After our things arrived from the US, the boys had a field day with the boxes. I cut little windows out of these 2 for them:

Philip had his sixth birthday, and we surprised him with another trip to Bressingham:

We also opened gifts and had cake back at Grandma & Grandad's house. Here he is testing out his new bike, Henry chasing after him:

Helping grandad put the bike together:

Opening gifts:

Having some quality time with a new train:

And I'll do a separate post about the cake later, but for now - here is what he got. A Mallard cake. :)

Another catch-up.

2010-03-29T05:52:00.006-05:00

Before we left, I got to spend some time with my dad which was really nice, and here he is on the day before our flights to England with the boys & I:

Philip made the most of his "vacation" from school, and crashing full speed into a pile of outside toys was his number one game.

And then... we moved to England. The flights were good, the boys had bad jet lag for a few days and we had some miserable sleep, but all in all it was a pleasant transition.

Here, Henry wears his new favorite helmet and eats a yogurt snack.

Philip doing his FAVORITE chore, shoveling coal for Grandad's solid fuel furnace.

Philip's new school:

Playing a hiding game in the back garden:

Henry on daddy's shoulders for our first walk to the pub:

Having a chat on the way there:

Philip's first day of school:

Henry sticking things through the mail slot:

Henry conked out in our bed this morning:

We've got Easter & Philip's 6th birthday coming up this week so I'll post more pictures - hopefully I can update this blog more often now that we're a little more settled!

Almost on our way...

2010-03-06T16:01:00.006-06:00

Well! We've moved out of our place, but since we had to move our tickets back by 2 weeks because of immigration paperwork nightmare, we're now in Indiana and Ohio for two weeks. :) We're moving to England on March 13, I'll post more pictures shortly after we make the move. For now, here are a few:

The boys with their passports, ready for travel:

Philip loading the bed of dad's truck in our garage:

Henry "helping":

Philip loved being old enough to do real work:

Henry at Nate & Brandi's house, with the helmet he won't take off:

The boys cuddling with cousin Bella in the back seat:

Relaxing at dad's house:

Ready for racing:

And finally me, at 20 weeks pregnant with George:

George Anderson

2010-02-14T19:45:00.003-06:00

We're RIGHT in the thick of moving so there aren't a lot of pictures right now, I've been too busy or too sick! But even though I only have a few photos, i have some BIG news. :)

We're having another boy! George Anderson will be joining Philip & Henry sometime this upcoming July. :) We named him George simply because we love the name and it runs through the family... Anderson because it was my mother's middle name. So even though we're having a boy we get to name him after my mom, which feels immensely special. :)

Henry talks to George a lot, via my belly button... and Philip is thrilled. He did NOT want a sister so he's pleased!

Here he is playing with his "lucky railroad spike", digging it into some of the ever-present snow.

Cleaning up...

And showing some of his many hats :)

After taking this photo I relented and finally gave their boys one of their twice-yearly hair cuts. Still long, but at least they can see now. :)

One of Philip's track designs that includes knocking a bunch of people off...

And a happy little blue eyed Henry. :)

Catching Up

2010-01-28T12:53:00.007-06:00

We are up to our eyeballs in just about everything, so I'll try to catch up with a lot of photos and just a few words. This is what I look like, just under 16 weeks pregnant with "Small Fry".

Henry had his 3rd birthday party last week, and Philip got the extra special treat of having a bunch of girls in his bed.

The beer was just as important as the gifts.

My best friend Sarah came up to help me with the party prep, I'm still feeling really horrible during this pregnancy and she came up to cook and help start the packing process. (We move to England in just over 4 weeks!!!)

Here she is cleaning the floor with Henry and Sarah's dog Frank.

If you ask Henry about Frank, he'll reliably say "Frank is my best friend."

They put themselves in the dog cage, honest!

Also, Philip recently broke his finger and smashed his fingernail up pretty badly. He loved the part where he got x-rays though, how cool to see your own bones!

We also made a trip to Indianapolis so David, my 3 brothers, my dad, and my uncle could all go to the Colts football game. I went down and visited Sarah and stayed in the hotel, but at least I got to see my brothers for a few hours. :)

Nate, Uncle Bill, Matt, Andrew, Dad and David, ready for the game. It was the game before the finals... the Colts are now in the SuperBowl next week. We clearly brought them good luck.

Also, it has been colder than hell here. Don't leave outdoor toys outside, this happens. Our yard has been covered with snow for months now, and I'm sick of it already. Only 4 more weeks to go and we'll be in England, where Spring happens months before it does in Chicago. :)

Three years.

2010-01-11T09:23:00.008-06:00

It doesn't get better, it just gets different.

That is the best advice my mom gave me about parenting. Those difficult phases that you think might break you... they end. Only to be replaced by a new phase, and a new stage in both your life and the life of your child. And so the adventure continues, and so it should.

I'm finding that same advice applicable to my grief, and to the various unpredictable stages that have come along with it. I wanted today's writing to be more positive. I wanted it to be filled with remembrance and joy, and to take mom's spirit to heart and focus on the bright side rather than the sadness. But this is a year of massive change for me, and with that instability comes some emotional vulnerability. And right now? Right now I just want my mommy back.

My mind is distracted and full of holes. I am both pregnant and in the middle of an immigration process, as we're moving back to England in a few weeks. The distractions of today feel so similar to the distractions of three years ago, as I was heavily pregnant with Henry when she died, and in a way it makes today feel more unbearable.

Strangely, I've come to understand her so much more since her death, mainly in how the dynamic between my eldest child & I seems to mirror the dynamic she and I shared. I see so much of myself in Philip, and I see so much of my mother in me. I wish I could share that with her. I wish she could guide me through it.

I've grown into my motherhood since she died, and I've been denied the chance to grow into that new dynamic with her, where our shared mothering experiences joined us. And so even though it has been three years, the grief is new and fresh. This is my first pregnancy without her, and my desire to have her hold my hand - just something as simple as holding my hand - is crushing.

I know one day in the future, January 11th will not be so hard. My grief will have changed yet again, and much more joy and remembrance will be allowed into the day. I'll be capable of telling stories about how much happiness she brought to me, my family, our friends, total strangers. About how funny she was, about how much of her shines through in the rest of the family, about the best memories I have of her.

But for now, it just isn't that time for me yet. This just isn't the year. Pregnancy hormones do not help of course, as I find myself crying at the most ridiculous things. So the crying over genuine things... well I guess it will just feel a bit worse this year.

This summer, I'll be welcoming the birth of our third and final child, a child we thought we couldn't have. I know I'll feel her present at the birth, I know I'll smell her perfume, I know her life - her strong forceful life - will be present already in that tiny child. I know that as this pregnancy continues and the risks get higher, I know she'll be with me at every hospital visit, every stress test, every tender step of the way.

I know I will miss her unbearably, but I also know I'll feel even more connected to her through my new child. That I will, as I do every day, become more and more like her.

And that is something I'll be eternally grateful for.

Christmas :)

2009-12-25T19:29:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Philip helping with some holiday baking:

When I send Philip in to wake Henry up from his nap, this is what happens:

Our tree this year:

My grown-up looking boys:

Playing after a recent snow storm:

Not sure about the cold yet:

Firing the new nerf maching gun at my bathroom mirror this morning:

Henry protecting himself from the nerf gun:

Philip looking devilish with the nerf gun:

Santa's snack:

I feel sick all the time, so David did Santa's mince pies this year:

The process of the pies:

And thats another little catch up! I'm still feeling sick a LOT and exhausted ALL THE TIME, and on top of that I've got a L O T of organizing to do since we're moving to England in a few weeks. Did I forget to mention that? :) So yep! BUSY BUSY!!!

playing catch-up

2009-12-09T12:16:00.005-06:00

There's been a good reason for my lack of photo updating actually, and I'll let Philip explain it to you in this drawing he did about the difference between Certain and Impossible.

Impossible: cows typing. Certain: a baby in mom's belly. :)

Our third little Nunn-person will be joining the family sometime in July 2010! So you'll forvige me for not updating now, right? Now that you know I've either been asleep or being sick for the last few weeks? :)

Here are some catch-up pictures mainly of our trip to see the family in Ohio.

We've got about 4 inches of snow outside, so this weekend (if it snows a bit more) I'll try to take a bunch of pictures of the boys (big and small) playing in the stuff. But for now, I've gotta go take a nap.

Soon I promise!

2009-11-30T18:42:00.002-06:00

I have a LOT of photos to share. We visited family in Ohio and we played in go karts, we had Thanksgiving, we delivered gifts to the parents of Preemies in the hospital, and we had a massive photo shoot to get pictures for the Christmas cards.

But! I'm tired! And until I can sit down and do that massive update, here. This is for you. :)

The beginning of November, around the flu.

2009-11-10T19:47:00.004-06:00

From Halloween until now, we've had the flu hopping from person to person, Philip was out of school a whole week with it, but we're finally feeling back to ourselves. Here are a few pictures from the times we've been able to go outside since then, enjoying the sunny (but freezing) days before the mega snow starts to hit.

Early Halloween, Farmer & Conductor

2009-10-26T12:03:00.009-05:00

(This year's Preemie Presents is well underway, go to http://preemiepresents.blogspot.com if you want to help me give gifts to parents who have preemies in the hospital over the holidays)

Halloween is coming up next weekend, but we got to dress the boys up early and take them over to our trolley museum for a haunted train ride. Philip has wanted to be a conductor ever since last year, so he is SO pleased with his outfit. I have, without a doubt, the cutest boys in all the land.

Here is the mini conductor with one of the real conductors at the museum.

Philip also has his school photos this year - I took this one at home (with a bad flash, sorry) just in case they messed with his hair like they had done a few years back. Luckily they didn't, and I can't wait to see how they turn out this year.

We've had a brief break in the cold weather and taken the kids out to the park a lot.

And have enjoyed the October Trees, there is nothing like them in the world.

We've also done our pumpkins.

And next is Halloween, so lots of pictures to share then I'm sure. :)