December 2007

A quiet month by our standards and a very subdued Christmas following Nana Linda's spell in hospital.

Our new Christmas pyjamas.

Santa Steam Special

Charlie met father Christmas again today when we went on the Santa Steam Special at the Severn Valley Railway.

Santa at Birmingham Nature Centre

Charlie met Father Christmas for the first time today when we went to Birmingham Nature Centre with Harvey.

November 2007

A quiet month by our standards. Harvey came round to play...

...and we went to Trentham Gardens and went on the carousel.

Andy Warhol

We've recently created a new poster of Charlie to match the others in our playroom. It's in the style of Andy Warhol's Monroe and Elvis prints.

Our New Garden

We've just had our garden changed to make it child friendly and low maintenance. All poisonous, thorny or unidentified plants have been removed and the lawn levelled and re-turfed.
The decking at the far end now has a fence to stop Harvey driving backwards off it! And there is a new slide down onto a rubberised area.
The decking at the house-end has been completely replaced with a new, larger area for our table and chairs, an enclosed fence, storage underneath and fancy lighting set into the floor!

The Guinea Pigs also get a new "high rise home" with legs on their hutch!





The yard has been repaved with a very similar block paving (bordered using the original paving stones).



The flower bed along the fence opposite the back door has been removed leaving 3 small beds for the climbing plants. We're aiming to use the barrel planter (seen here outside the back door) as a herb garden.

October 2007

Letitia, Garth & Flynn came from Australia to visit us. They stayed for a few days before moving on to see other "rellies" and friends around the UK and Germany.


We had a busy few days visiting the Severn Valley Railway, Bewdley, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, The Nature Centre, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle.

















Above: Oliver & Flynn on a steam train.

Right: Warwick Castle

Below: Botanical Gardens

September 2007

What a busy month! Apart from all the events detailed below, Charlie got his first tooth and his first passport (using this photo) and we took the sides off Oliver's cot so he now sleeps in a "big boys bed".

Christening

Today was Charlie, Oliver & Harvey's Christening at All Saints Church, Kings Heath.

Left to right: Revd John Wilkinson, Cathryn, Charlie (Godparents Richard & Louise), Richard, Dave, Oliver (Godparents Lisa & Garry), Louise, Harvey (Godparents Richard, Dave & Cathryn), Garry, Lisa.


Afterwards we went to the Victorian Tea Rooms in Kings Heath Park.




































Thanks to Linda for the cake and Lisa, Garry, Alex & Harriet for the photos.

Monkey Forest

Today we went to Monkey Forest with Hannah, Oscar, Gaz, TJ, Alan & Amanda.
Oliver & Hannah

It rained while we were there

Thanks to Alan for some nice pictures.






Hannah bought Oliver a "Monkey Stick" toy...

Some New Photos

We recently had some pictures taken of the boys in Mothercare. We were approached in the shop by a woman from PixieFoto who said they'd had a cancellation and that if we would like to fill the spot we could have the photo session and one free picture for £5. It's a clever ploy, because they know you're going to fall in love with the other pictures and the 5 additional photos ended up costing us £100!!!

Harvey's 2nd Birthday

Today was cousin Harv's 2nd birthday. We all went to London and visited the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs...

...and then to the Science Museum to see Bob The Builder Live.

A Day Out With Thomas

Today we all went on a Day Out With Thomas on the Severn Valley Railway with Aunty Weez & Harv.




Top to bottom: Harvey, Oliver & Charlie in front of Douglas.
Oliver & Harv enjoying lunch
Harvey, Oliver & a troublesome truck.
Oliver on Thomas
Oliver, Mummy & Charlie with Diesel