New Car, Sewing etc.

As most of you know we are off to Dingwall for the communion this weekend. Jett's exam is tomorrow and then we go up to Rachel and Peter's. I thought I should at least post once this week with photos. We finally got another car this week from DCM's dad. So there should be a picture somewhere in here of that as well. Here is the damage of the Ford Mondeo...which we thought of getting it cheaply repaired but the person said it would cost a whole lot of money due to something being bent real bad underneath. In the end the car is now at a salvage yard...*sniff* :'(

Bye bye!! (Jett leaving to go up to Tomatin, dispose of this car and get the new)

Our new car (to match my hair haha...) it is about the size of a Ford Focus.

Aaron's newest accomplishment (this pic is a week old) he is sitting up now almost unsupported! Yes, he is sticking that toy in his mouth - everything goes in his mouth!

Our sweet contented baby who fell asleep one afternoon on his tummy.

Aaron on his tummy again. He is rolling now - but rarely does it.

And my project that I was working on today and finished this morning. A skirt for Amy Jane.

Someone asked me if I was getting a lot of sewing done and where I got my fabric to sew with and I said yes, I don't have any fabric actually and haven't bought any. You can well imagine that that person must have thought I was a bit weird...as I'm sewing lots but don't have any fabric how is that possible?! Uhm...well, my fabric where does it come from? My old skirts...or sheets, or old receiving blankets! And I'm afraid that Amelia's skirt came from a skirt of mine that I had made. This was a maternity skirt I made for myself way back, but was never very comfortable during that latter part of pregnancy and Amy needed more denim/durable skirts so I used it. I didn't use a pattern for this so it isn't as good as it could be but I am surprised that it turned out as well. I'm thinking of maybe putting some applique (sp) to make it a wee bit more cute rather than a plain old Jane skirt. Will be thinking about that one for awhile though. I must find myself some denim fabric...I have a urge to sew a skirt for myself with a certain pattern Care and I really like...hmm lets check ebay! :)

Well, I should be trying to order groceries for next week and then pack etc for this weekend.

:) and off I go...

Simplifying

Just a wordy post here from me. I was going through my "old" clothing and things that the kids don't fit nor wear nor would I see my future kids (If we have any more) wearing them (due to major stains, major wear etc) sorting through and deciding what I will keep, what I would throw out and what I would recycle. It is amazing to me to see how much stuff we can hold on to that we don't need!

Kids clothing is fairly easy to do, perhaps the harder issue is my clothes! We women have a tendency to: like to shop, like to "stay in fashion" and so on. I'm totally against going with the "fashion" of today if it means dressing immodest and gaudy and unfortunately this in our day is very much of that nature.

On several blogs I have been reading I've noticed some talk about simplifying our clothing. So, I thought I would give my two cents as well. I've gone through my clothes and decided ok, this is too small and so I get rid of it. And it feels wonderful to look into my closet knowing I can wear anything in there, knowing it does fit properly!

So, how many shoes do you have? Or skirts? How often do you wear them? Those are the kind of questions I've been asking myself while downsizing my wardrobe.

I own exactly 2 pairs of shoes. This is of course not including sandals but how often do you wear sandals in the UK!? And by the way I only own 4 pairs of sandals (hmm, obviously I wore them a lot in the States). I'm not trying to boast of how little shoes I have - actually I wish I had another pair but really this all I need for now. Skirts on the other hand I have enough and tops well maybe a wee bit too many so...maybe I should work on the top situation soon.

So...I'm trying to simplify my life's clothing to make life more manageable. And I find if I do this with everything else as well (house hold stuff, kitchen stuff etc) I then know what I have in the house, things stay organized and it gives a wonderful sense of accomplishment and "staying on top of things" that I think this is worthwhile to continue through out life!

Now, I should mention for the next 2 or so years I NEED to be living simply due to so many moves we have yet to do, but I hope in the future when we get settled, Lord willing, that I'll keep up this habit.

Ok I think I've said enough! :)

Uncle Lyle and Aunt Anna's Wedding!

Pictures from the 24th! All very self explanatory. :)

MJ & Nome

A picture for Samuel (and no I didn't get 3!!)

Mr. MacColl and his mother.

A side view of the couple

The reception room/hall/??

Amelia (for whatever reason) was very willing to give free hugs especially to Gerrit!

Head table

Amelia's new friend! It was very sweet to see them play together!

Again :)

The San Antonio table where we, Rachel, Peter and family and a few others also sat.

A very tired Aaron...poor thing

The cake.

A nice picture of the bride and groom

And that is all I have. :) Rachel will have plenty more I'm sure! :)

Now...I'm waiting for pictures of the new wee boy...It has been well over 24 hours...and still waiting. *hint* *hint* :)

Congrats to Carl and Stephanie!

Congratulations on the safe arrival of

Carl Allen Jr!!

So you guys did name him after Carl!! I wish I could be home to get all the details etc but will have to wait till after the wedding! Glad he is finally here! 9lbs and 10 or 14 oz! Nice big baby! :)

Must go! Much love to you all and wee Claire...aww now she has a brother like Amy!! :)

Happy EARLY 2ND Birthday to Amelia Jane!!

Born on July 24th in the afternoon almost two weeks early; as you can imagine, she came unexpectedly! So here is a pic the day after she was born but not 24 hours old yet.

And us smiling ...lol boy do I look washed out!!

Yes she already had a birthday with her cousins and aunts/uncles and grandparents/great grandparents but I thought I would make her an "official" birthday cake...and so here is the end result...

She really likes Old Macdonald and all his animals so I bought a second hand little peoples barn with animals and sounds usually costs around £26 I got it for about £11 (includes shipping) so not bad eh? So while she was napping I did this:

Got her up lighted candles and daddy brought her in to see and this is what she looked like!

"Mommy...what is this??"

Loosing up...

And finally a big smile!!

Daddy showing her how to blow out the candles (he blew one out)

And she blew the last one.

I must admit it was a good experience even though I spent twice the amount of time decorating the cake!! But Amy really likes her toy shes been at it for almost an hour now!!! :) LOL, I'm already tiring of the Old Macdonald song though... :)

Tomorrow is the wedding already!! AHH! So, must iron some shirts for Jett cut his hair and give baths to my two kiddos. Next post should be wedding pics!! :)

our silly daughter :)

During worship this morning, when we were singing Amelia decided she would sing too. For awhile she was singing nicely and then all of a sudden she looked on the wall and started singing: "Joefus and Caralyn...Denna and Duelia....and Care!" Translation: "Joseph and Carolyn, Jenna and Julia and Claire!" On our wall are pictures of family members and for some reason she likes to point out Joseph and Carolyn the most.

Another funny thing about Amy is that when she sees "middle age or older" people walking down the street (or the man especially across from us) she says "Oma!!" or "Opa!"

When getting the phone (which she isn't allowed to do) she always says Hello Oma...or Hello Opa...or Hello Terry!

In her ever growing vocabulary she says the following...

"copies" for coffee?!
"Arannes" for Aaron (it always is in the plural...)
"woses" for Roses
"powers" for Flowers
"chairs" for chair again plural!
"car keat" for car seat
"backet" for basket
"a pik ki chew" for a picture
"piepice" for pacifier

and so on...

It is sad that every morning she has to run to the dining room and yell out "Hiya Potty!" And every time she sits on it she is telling herself "Good girl! Yeeeaaaah!" Later on I find her telling Dolly to go potty and then it is Louie her monkey...oh dear.

Why is it when your asking your child a question and she answers with the last two or so words that you said? Mommy: Amelia where is your book? Amy: Your book Mommy: Go get your book Amelia. Amy: Book Mala! I guess it is pointless to ask a 2 year old questions right? ;)

And last of all a picture of our family minus me. Aaron is still smiley as ever!

And again since Amy was looking the other way (the the above pic is better of Mr. Aaron)

Should be very thankful for my family!

What my week looked like

I suppose I've only posted pictures and videos this week rather then me rambling away what has been happening here. Hmm, well maybe you find that a *good* thing since our "everyday" stuff isn't really all that exciting... Exciting is the wrong word how about hectic? A little bit chaotic? Stressful? Certainly it wasn't all bad...but still here goes my week:

Monday...Microwave is broken (happened last week)...Throw load of wash on - hang it up outside and throw another load on. Wash TONS of dishes from Sabbath since we had a visitor (Wylie boy) and try to tydy up house. Amelia starts to have *lots* of accidents (yeah where did all our work go??) so a lot of cleaning floors etc. Read a few pages in a Vaccine book. Make supper...etc etc and before bed throw on another load of wash.

Tuesday...Hang washing outside and throw on yet another load of wash. Groceries came today so put those up. Yet another rough day of accidents from Miss Amy Jane...ho hum. Read more in the Vaccine book. Tydy toys up...tydy house up FOLD laundry and put away...supper...and lol yet another load thrown in the wash before bed.

Wednesday...got up *very* tired after a rough night with Amelia...ugh!!! Hung up the wash again...cleaned bathroom and dusted the house, FOLD more laundry and put away and again tydied up dining room/kitchen (toys everywhere) Today wasn't very good concerning Amy's accidents...ach well. Again made supper. Was entirely exhausted so I ended up staying home from the Prayer meeting...Mom called.

Thursday...Oh I can't remember...uhm? Got new microwave and new phone!! Set up both. I vaccumed (oh I give up on spelling that). Amelia started doing better today! Tydied...oh it is never ending! Ok...I got the sewing machine out again and Sewed (Last week I sewed 2 bibs for Amy but why does she call them "bam"?) this week was all about sewing inserts into tops I have (nearly finished!!). Gave Amy a bath.

Friday...Realized the sewer thingy is backing up...... :S And all the sewer peoples are busy at a Tescos (?!) ok not all but still we haven't gotten it looked at yet...it is pretty bad I must admit. Uhm, I again got up late this morning because again Amelia was being a bad girl at night. Made a nicer supper tonight (although I can't say it was *that* great). Vaccumed the dining/kitchen again and tydied again and again. Folded diapers. Realized that Jett is going to be away Sat-Monday to Northern Ireland! :( Well, it isn't a sad thing of course, just sad for me because I'm left behind with the kids.

Oh and this of course doesn't tell you all the things done for Jett, and the bathing and diapering of the kids and all the other 1000's of things that fill up a day/week. But those details would get very very boring much like the above...

And of course I've been busy with her :)

Comments

Yes, I finally fixed something I didn't realize! The setting to my comments thingy which only accepted certain people's comments...it should be now that "anybody" can post a comment but will need to be approved first (keeps Spam out).

Ok...had to give you these! Isn't he a cutie?? :)

And such a HUGE smile!! I don't think it could get bigger! Yes he likes his baths!

Signing

I know some of you might think "why are you teaching her sign language?" my answer is I'm not! I don't know sign language myself, but I have a DVD that has some common signs around the house, and I was thinking why not let her know some? It doesn't hurt. I think kids like actions with songs/words. So here I am showing you some of the signs she tries to do. I think it is rather cute. Obviously she doesn't do them perfectly. Anyways here is a bit of Amelia signing...

Money!

This is one of my favourite things to see in our family - Jett playing with Amelia (or Aaron). Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did filming it! Have a good weekend!

Our visit to Scone Palace

At long last our day out came and went...and here are the pictures to prove it. :)

A view of the palace.

What welcomed us before we got to the top of the hill where the palace is.

Jett thought it was neat how we were "all set to go" with a double stroller and all.

The entrance (and no I have none of the inside...no pics allowed inside)

The chapel, and a replica of the Stone of Scone.

They had a playground there and Amy liked the swings.

This one was caged up...by the way there were quite a number of these peacocks around the entrance of the palace gates and in the far back there were a couple too.

I like this pic... :)

They had chickens and a couple of donkeys here...Amy liked it *very* much.

Again

Another peacock showing us his beauty.

Another view of the palace from a different angle.

Lots of greenery...it was very refreshing for us.

I like this kind of scene...kind of romantic in a way maybe?

And this is a douglas fir thought I got a fairly neat shot! :)

And thats it. And now my kiddos are awake so I need to run!