Of daily life

I hardly feel like updating properly as I'm constantly torn away to deal with one of the whining children. They either are fighting or whining about something. I feel as if they are never pleased. Don't worry I'm not into letting them have everything they want or letting them have their way all the time. It's just been another week I suppose. 4 weeks already into the term, time does fly. It is dull here again. I expected the sunny weather couldn't last, fall has to come and then winter.

The highlight of the week was a visit at the Macleod's. Mrs. Macleod has never failed at her ever giving hospitality! I suppose she must be well known for it. She invited Jenny Ross and her three children, Fiona and her little girl, and Janneke and her little chubby boy Joel. It was splendid! It certainly made me forget that Amelia was car sick on the way...which reminds me I still have to put hercar seat back together again. I had to drive in Glasgow. I didn't want to. And my nerves would've given way if I let them, but I took it slow, and it was okay...I suppose it would've been much worse if it was in the city centre! It was good to see other children for Amelia and Aaron.

On another note, I feel as if I'm constantly fighting a lingering cold sinus thingy. Owen is doing well, although I'm still battling his eczema and after using a week of hydrocortisone cream he is much better and now he is flaring up again. :-( And he was looking so cute with a cleared face too! Ah well...more aveeno. He also is getting fussier and not sleeping very well (a sign from my previous children that he or she is not getting enough food)...so I've been trying to use formula a little bit but he absolutely dislikes it, and on top of that it makes the area around his lips all red, and if the formula gets on his skin it goes all red...I'm worried he may be allergic to this milk...perhaps I need to go with another type. The thing is, I've never experienced this with Aaron...every child is different I suppose. But on the whole he is a very happy baby, he is learning to suck his thumb (oh no!). Speaking of which he just woke up and needs his mommy. :)

And now just briefly a few pics of the Halkirk Manse and surrounding area...

Mom & Jackie doesn't this remind you of the Chesley house?? Look at all that gorgeous dark wood!

Front yard church is to the right

The Manse from the road...makes me think of a Castle or something.

Outside of Halkirk but looking towards it.

And again.

On top of our Dadddieee!Donald and Amelia milking a fake cow...heehee it was cute!

Oops this should've been up on the top not here..one of the fireplaces in the manse.

Uncle Jay and Aaron

See I'm terrible at updating...but at least you can watch this while your waiting for a "real" update. :) Don't worry you'll probably laugh.

more pictures/videos etc.

Well, I'm finally getting to something...maybe! Here is Amy's 3rd birthday or part of it. I don't think I'll be posting all the photos from our trip to Canada, it just is too much and time is short here with three littles around, and most of the photos are up on fb. Anyways, I need to get some more recent photos up, not that much is happening here though!



Amelia's 2nd birthday cake...very cute and special!

My sister and me.

Another update coming soon I hope.

Our week with Joe, Care & Fam.

Yes still reminiscing I am! Like I mentioned in the previous post, the week after the wedding we spent mainly with Joe and Care...here we are at Macgregor Point Park, it was a very nice day. Miya and her children came along, as well as Aunt Heather, Dena, Dave, and Oma. We had a picnic lunch, and the kids enjoyed the water. Amelia was extremely apprehensive of going near the water, she is very careful and fearful about new things, and certainly a huge amount of beach and water all at once must have overwhelmed her! Aaron on the other hand must've remembered that he was born in water or something, for he went racing full speed into it! It was *very* hard to get him out and settled for a nap but I did manage it.

The picnic table etcYou can never separate these two... maybe they should've been twins. :D

See what I mean? There they are (and were there for a good part of the outing) sitting and talking away... oh, and Aunt Heather is entertaining Jenna (I'm a little teapot song).

i
Ahh, drift wood excellent toys! (Julia & Abby)

I'm pretty sure this is Calvin carrying the above wood.

A sleeping beauty or cutie :DOma. Thanks to her very nice grandson (Dave) her head was shielded from the sun with a very appropriate cap/hat (John Deere...can't go wrong there!).

Julia...just a little dirty lol :)

lol...and a very dirty Peter!!

Hmm...again the said brothers.

And that is all for now. I have so much updating to do, but I'll have to wait another time for that. Need to be getting lunch ready for these littles and then do some preschool work with Amy...yes, I am doing some schooling this year with her, but we are always trying to do something educational anyways, just this time we will hopefully master all the sounds of the alphabet and maybe start to blend....and...well, one step at a time. :)

Tantrums, "No", Disobedience...

I'm tired! I'm back to a "routine" of sorts but I think we are still trying to get things sorted and organized around here. I'm also tired of dealing with the above title! I know I'll constantly be battling something with the children, but ever since we got back from Halkirk Amelia has acted up something fierce. Tantrums of some sort of which no discipline but perhaps put her in another room works. Then I have Mr. Aaron starting to say "No" at everything...well, especially when we want him to do something and well, we just can't have that I also have it on a video clip! And the last one is of course a general term for the first two and all the bits and bobs between. Owen is still very sweet though, so I can't complain! :) I just need encouragment and strength to continue on through the day.

These are from our trip in Canada. This was a BBQ at Uncle Dave and Aunt Heathers (after the wedding).

The week after the wedding was spent visiting with Joe and Care (and my lovely nieces!!)

Doesn't Julia look so sweet here? I can't wait for her to have a baby brother!! :)

More sweeties!

More sweeties :D
Abigail and Owen

Amelia saw the other Smith children drying dishes sooo she took an interest in it too :)

Taken in Halkirk Daddy and his 2nd son.

Till another time...

Hello!

I'm finally here...but only for a few seconds as I'm still in the process of "getting organized" around here. We arrived safely yesterday from Halkirk, and it was a lovely time up there...pictures to come about that sometime. But for now, I'll start with some oldish photos of when John was last here...and maybe a few Canada photos...maybe! :)

One day I caught Aaron like this...he conserves space you see.

Owen...he looks different now :)

John peeking through the big Douglas Fir tree at Scone Palace.

Sam and Jett

John :)

Piggy back riding...

I thought this was a beautiful spot for girly photos...

Unfortunately we aren't dressed as pretty. :( (Still at Scone Palace)

Mr. Mischief

One of the big trees there...

A picture of the interior of Beck's reception hall.

Little Man slept through the whole thing (nearly!!) The other two were being looked after by my dear bro-in-law Sam (Thank you!!!)

Little Miss Flower Girl...apologies for the glare!

And for other wedding pics, you'll have to look elsewhere (Care's blog) as I didn't take many at all!

This would've turned out very cute if Amelia was smiling right...

And then Julia looked a little too cuddly in this one...lol, ah well so much for trying to get nice pictures of cousins!!

Must be off now. :)

Just so you know...

We are enjoying our time here in Canada *very* much! :)

Quick update.

Owen's passport came in yesterday! Soo, all being well, in about a weeks time we should be boarding a plane with three children under three...oh dear! :S I've been consoling myself with the thought that Sam will be still with us then...but still if they all decide to do some screaming fits it won't be a very fun ride...likely they'll enjoy the excitement (or Amy will). :)

I've been rushing with these baby announcements and thank you's...I've done too many this afternoon, but at least most are done for the UK. And you think you save time by ordering cute announcements...I guess not when you have three needing attention!

John and Sam are up in Inverness for the weekend (communion season) so a quiet weekend at home for us I suppose.

Next week is a big week...full of seeing doctors, cleaning and packing... I sense tiredness and exhaustion but look forward to some relaxation at the end. Maybe.

I likely won't be updating this much next week or for the next 6 weeks while in Canada (sorry!). I think I need some time off for awhile. So till then, I shall say bye!

My Indian...

Here's promised video clip!


And Owen...

I'm surprised at how much he looks like Amy!

Ok he looked too cute in this outfit...yes the jeans should really be a brown or beige colour I think, but I think this vest (ahem, jumper?) is so cute (Thanks to Nome for knitting it!)

Hmm...Somehow he looks like me here. :S

It is sooo difficult to get any photos of these kids sitting down and looking at the camera...well, here is the back of them I thought it was quite neat.

Jett's presbytery exam went well, and they were "satisfied"...as well as his sermon. I'm glad that is over for him! Yesterday Jett and myself and wee Owen trucked off to the Consulate (Edinburgh) and finally got things sorted...well, it should be! We should have his birth certificate and passport within 10 days (hopefully sooner than that!). This morning was hectic...hmm, I think almost every moment lately is hectic! One thing goes wrong and then another and so on. Well, this morning was like that. I was changing Owen's diaper when I realized he wasn't quite finished and he made my bed wet...and his as well...sooo, here I was stripping off the mybed (after I put a diaper on him that is) and then his bed. The kids needed baths this morning so I was occupied cleaning them. And now they are cranky and crying, what to do! Ok better run...

Pictures of the Owen

I was trying to find the video of my Cherokee indian but I think it was on Sam's cam that I filmed it...and he being in Glasgow just now with the said cam I assume, I can't post it just now...next post maybe!

Jett just now is taking his Presbytery exam...am quite nervous for him. I hope he does well. He has been studying so hard these past weeks! I will be glad it is behind him though. Tonight he preaches in Glasgow as well so another thing to be praying about. And myself, I am here at home with the kids...and managing sooo far. I don't know how well it will go when all three are crying and needing attention...but .... oh at least two of them just started (A & A)... *sigh* these kids never seem to know how to play nicely, or SHARE! If anyone wants one of the hardest jobs in the world it is raising children...properly (notice the last word). Anyways on to the pictures...

LOL...my camera takes several flashes before taking the picture and thus he squinted... heehee, looks comical if you ask me.

Looking kind of odd... sorry I'm bad at taking pictures.

Mommy and baby.

I am so glad I never got rid of my Boppy...I haven't found the equivalent in this country (I mean I know they have something similar but nothing I think is quite as nice as mine.) Here he is exercising his neck...which is quite strong.

Yes, out of order sorry...here he is starting to go to sleep again.

And that is all for now. Tomorrow is the big day for his passport and citizenship...must go and reread their website as they always seem to be changing something! :S

Amy had her renal ultrasound done last friday. We won't know any results till the 29th (our next appointment with Dr. Macleod)...as well we get to have skin tests done that day... not looking forward to that...can't imagine it will be pain free... :( Now onwards to get more laundry hung up...a tumble dryer sounds nice just about now...but one day soon. :)

A short update on the everyday life...

Which can be dull I do say. Ah well, it seems like time is just passing so fast. It seems yesterday that I was waiting terribly impatiently for Baby to come, and now he has come and already he is two weeks old.

So, I never said that Jett's computer decided to stop working a few days before baby arrived so we've had someone take it and fix it...and don't ask me what all happened to his poor machine but it now works. Another bonus was that Jett bought 2 gbs of ram for my laptop which was running on only 256 mb (yes Megabytes NOT gigabytes)...sooo it runs a huge amount faster meaning less time waiting around for things to load and therefore less time on the machine in the end. :)

Last week we went to the US Consulate to start paper work on Owen, but we were only turned away because they had just changed things and we needed to have an appointment first... I can't help it but THIS ALWAYS happens to me!!!! Always something with the US immigration or US Customs or US something or another...rather aggravating, and very upsetting since I felt I wasted Jett's time driving down to Edinburgh and then back to Perth when he could have been studying for his Presbytery exam which is next week already!

Our tests are coming up for this TSC thing. Although Amelia's renal ultrasound is supposed to be done this Friday...another thing to sort out as these are times again that Jett would have to set time aside for...which he really doesn't have.

The communion season here in Perth is over now, most of you probably didn't know we were having communion here this past weekend, likely due to me not being able to attend much at all. Rev. Neil Ross was here to take the services, and it was very nice to see him and Mrs. Ross again. Owen was baptized Monday night by Rev. Cartwright (making it his second child from our family to baptize). Owen was well fed just before so he was sleepy and really didn't make much of a noise so I got to enjoy the address before the actual baptism.

Anyways, that is my sloppy post, and expect more like these as I really can't be spending time editing things such as grammar, punctuation marks, and run on sentences (and so on). I'm trying to work on getting more pictures of the new babe, and of my other wee ones, as well I just caught Aaron acting so funny on video...I think it is the Cherokee indian coming out in him lol! ;)

Until then I must get off and try to have an early night...

Meer fotos :) (and videos)

But not many...sorry, I'm really getting bad at this! Busy busy busy describes life right now, but things are still surprisingly relaxing (but only because Sam is here!!!). Yesterday we went to Edinburgh to sort out Owen's passport and citizenship only to be turned away because they just changed it that you had to have an "appointment" rather than just walk in... *sigh* I was upset but ah well, hopefully we'll get it done in the next two weeks.

Here is Owen, sleeping away...

And here is Uncle Sam tickling A & A

Your turn Amy!

Congrats to the new babies just arrived in the past week and so on! Lovely to hear all the baby news. :)

I'm discovering (again and again and yet again) that Aaron is a pig. I made popcorn for the first time for the kids and of course, Amy doesn't like it (or thinks its disgusting, so her look suggested!) Aaron looked rather inquisitive, had a taste and then tried to devour the whole bowl full of it...heehee!

And since most of you can't see the wee manny here he is in video.

And now I must go and get lunch sorted and get Owen as he is starting to stir and almost scream. One thing about him, he has good lungs... :)