The last 3/4 months

Hello, it's been a while since i last posted, so i thought i'd better make the effort!

We've had quite a few things happpen in the last 3 months.

Oliver turned 2 on the 28th September!!

We went to the UK for a month (Gareth only 2 weeks)

Jason came back with me and the boys and visited for a couple of weeks.

We bought another car, Gareth is changing jobs and so the company car needs to go back.

We had an accident in the new car, only a week after getting it too!

We were honoury Americans and celebrated Thanksgiving with our gorgeous friends Katie and Todd Edsall.

Gareth had a birthday, but i won't tell you how old he is!!

Jacob turned 4 on the 20th December!!

Father Christmas made a special visit to Agnew Loop!

and Christmas came and went, as did New Year:)

I hope i haven't missed anything?? I apologise if i have!!

We had a little party for Oliver before we went to the UK as his birthday was the day after we landed. It was very sweet and we had about 20 children and their parents come to our house. The children played nicely together and those that wanted to played pass the parcel and musical bumps. Ollie is very much in to sharks and so Gareth made an excellent shark birthday cake!

Thank you to all of you who came and made the day special and to those who gave Ollie presents, he loved them!

So, we had a month in the UK! We had a really great time visting as many friends and family as possible, as i'm sure you'll understand this was a huge task and we're sorry we couldn't make it to everyone:( But if ever you want to visit us, then drop us a line:)

We started at the top of the country in Edinburgh and then worked our way from Bristol to Farnham.

We had a fab time with Matt and Rachel and their 4 beautiful children, staying for just a few days. Cameron and Heather did a fantastic job decorating the lounge with birthday decorations for Ollie, and they also made a wonderful birthday cake!! (BEFORE church!!) We met Iain for the first time too:) We went to church, visited a farm, stayed at home and played. Jacob got his first taste of riding a bike with no stabilisers, practising on Alasdair's balance bike. In just a few days he got pretty good:) Jacob and Alasdair were very funny together, 'two peas in a pod' it was like we had never been away!! We miss you all very much!

Bristol was the next point of call, and just as we had expected Jacob and Nanny, Oliver and Grampy were stuck to each other from the moment we arrived:) Lesley, Steve, Abi and Tom made the trip up to Bristol and we also caught up with Nicola, David and Katy.

Friends next and we had a wonderful day planned out for us starting with softplay for as many as could make it, I'm starting to get teary eyed just thinking about you all! We met Finley Moody and Erin Davis for the first time, you're both gorgeous! and were shocked at how much all the other children have grown up. To Jenni and James' next for 'adult lunch' while the children played together, again like we had never been away! We were supposed to go to the Cleaks for children tea, but jetlag was catching up with Jacob and Ollie, so we took them back to see Nanny and Grampy and go to bed. Then a much missed 'take-away' curry with all the adults at the Moody's! Thankyou Jenni and Sophie for organising this, it made us feel very loved!

From Bristol to Abingdon to see Taz and Andy and their 3 beautiful children. Another new arrival to meet, this time Caitlin:) You've all been very busy in the short space of time we've been gone!! Another farm to visit and lunch out in a great kiddie friendly restaurant! Thanks for letting us practically take over your house Love you guys xx

We finally made it to Farnham to see Nanny and Grandad, Aunty Tanya and Jim, Aunty Amanda and David, Tamzin and Leyla, Great Nanna and Grandad and Great Grandad Aunty Sue and Ian and Laura, Sue and Paul, (hope i haven't missed anyone!)

Lots of visits to Goestry Meadows! shopping! A visit to Birdworld and dinner out after and generally just hanging about trying not to fall asleep at the wrong times! That was the end of Gareth's visit:( The boys and i stayed for another 2 weeks, going back to see people in Bristol for a week, a flying visit to Taz and Andy again before spending our last week in Farnham.



Gosh, this feels like a long blog!!!

As Gareth came back before me and the boys, Jason kindly said he would fly back with me to give me a hand with the boys, Well..... I'm not sure if he was a help or not getting to the airport!!! For those of you that didn't hear, Getting to the Heathrow was a bit of a challenge! Not very geographically minded i was completely reliant on the sat nav. So when Jason turned to me and said 'I think i've forgotten something' i laughed and said, 'as long as it's not your passport we'll get whatever you need in Oz!' When he looked at me seriously I knew we were in trouble!

Of course He had forgotten his passport and next came the panic of what we were going to do. Failing to get hold of Dad, i was thinking that i was going to have to drive back to Farnham, not really concentrating on what the sat nav lady was telling me to do, i missed our turn off and somehow... i don't know how... we got on to a road going back to Farnham. That solved the question of whether to go back or not! Gareth phoned from Oz, believing we would be at the airport and we explained what had happened. Thankfully, He had our flight information and was able to check me and the boys in online. Unfortunately, we couldn't find Jason's booking ref for online, so came the frantic phonecalls to Thompson, then Emirates to get one. Then back to Gareth again to check him in! With a lot of stress and saying the word 's***' we managed to get through this hurdle and to the airport, drop the hire car off and check our luggage in, to be told that the flight was boarding!!! We ran through the airport to the gate, which in fact was only just opening.

We made it!!!

We didn't do a huge amount whilst Jason was here, We did manage a weekend away to Busselton which was lovely.

Jason had a go on my body board, I thought He was going to freeze He came out of the water so blue and shivering so hard!!


We went to the beach a few times, had fish and chips at Hillarys :) went to Perth Zoo, AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia) Kings Park and on Jason's last day, even managed to go on a Whale watching trip! Thanks for coming Jason xx



Katie and Todd did a fantastic job of hosting a 'Thanksgiving' dinner. We all had a really lovely time, the food and company were excellent!

Our little boy is growing up fast! I can't believe how quickly the last four years have gone!

We had a party for Jacob, on his actual birthday:) We had a few friends round to our house again. It was a last minute thing as Jacob had been quite poorly with Salmonella poisoning and so even though He was better, He was still recovering from that.

Everyone had a fab time. The children played pin the tail on the donkey, musical bumps and pass the parcel.

Stuart had a go at riding Jacobs bike, and was doing quite well for a while... then it broke! It was very funny to watch him trying to fix it! Unfortunately He was unable to and kindly gave us money to replace it.

As Gareth had made Ollie a special birthday cake, We thought it was only fair to do the same for Jacob. Jacob said he wanted a turtle cake. I think Gareth did another excellent job of making it!

I just wonder what He's going to do next year!!!

Our neighbours again organised a trip from Father Christmas, who arrived on a fire truck! We were amazed that both our boys went and collected their presents and sat on Santa's knee for a photo!

Christmas was lovely. We were able to skype with some family after they came back from Midnight Mass. Jacob was extremely excited as He had a new bike for christmas, Thanks again Stuart! We had decided since Jacob had gotten on so well on Alasdair's balance bike, that we woud take the pedals and stabilisers off his new bike......10 days later We put them back on and He can cycle brilliantly!!! Well done Jacob, We're very proud! (I'll see if i can manage to put a video on here) We then headed to Carolyn and Stuart Wesley's and family for lunch along with Matt, Lisa and Graeme and their family and Emma and Jerry's family. It was a beautiful day, no where near as hot as last year!, so cricket in the garden commenced:) We spent a lot of the day there before coming home to quickly open a couple of presents before going for dinner round Jo and Shane's house.

New years Street party was again alot of fun, a massive bouncy castle and slide was hired for all the children, I haven't downloaded the photos yet but i'll add one on as soon as I do! Fantastic food again, I think we picked a really great place to live!