Bourton on the Water - sunny day staple!

The kids love to come here when the weather permits - not least because we usually end the day with ice-creams all round from one of the traditional ice-cream parlours - yum! It's also a great place to take visitors when they come to stay with us

The Big Breakfast

This is the amount of cereal my skinny little boy eats each morning.......

notice the mix of cereals - an important detail in our house

Oh, and did I mention he has two bowls......!

Half term fun at the Old Minster Hall ruins

Maria, or 'Pippi' as the kids call her (their grandmother), came to stay with us for the last few days of the half term break and as the weather was so gorgeous we decided to go down to the ruins by the river at Old Minster. I love it down there. The kids have so much fun climbing over and playing hide and seek in the ruins, skimming stones on the lake, visiting the cows in the fields and climbing up the walls on the lane back to the village to peek into the gardens of the rich people's houses!!!

gotcha!

The kids aren't looking too pleased here - they didn't take too well to being told that 'no, we will not be going to the pub for a drink!' Normally we'd take them for a lemonade at the Old Swan and Mill, but it is rather embarrasing to be walking past other people and have your 4/5 year old exclaim, 'I really need a drink, let's go to the pub!' What must they think :-) !!!

Monkeying around....

...on the monkey bars at the park. Look how well they can do it!

Faces

Jasmine has always pulled faces at the camera, but these ones, which Nick took at Skyla's birthday party, are extra cute!

A family affair

My gorgeous niece Skyla turned 1 on 21st May and we had a big party as only our family can.....

First Nick took the kids and my cousin Joe's daughter Savannah to Finsbury Park.....(doesn't she have the most amazing hair colour!)

Then it was off to Skyla's Party....the weather cooperated nicely and we had one of the hottest day's of the year

I promise that I combed her hair that morning - just long curly hair left loose with bbq smoke, bouncy castles and a tomboyish girl thrown in, are a recipe for very unruly, frizzy hair!

Me and the birthday girl - I finally got a hold :-)

Me and my little sis, Naomi

Soul food! Fried dumplings, rice 'n' peas, curry goat, jerk chicken, salad and coleslaw - the Caribbean on a plate!!!

The very talented chef!

This picture is of all our children (minus Skyla - who was being hogged by yet another person! and Shakil, Joseph's baby boy, who wasn't here to celebrate with us)

From the back, left to right we have: Ben (of course!), Tai (my cousin Perry's son), the up front we have Jasmine, Savanna, Kyra (my cousin Michaela's oldest daughter - though a coupl years younger than Jas believe it or not!) and lastly Deja, Michaela's youngest daughter.

What a lovely family! My brother Ben, Skyla and mum, Epiphany

Class Assembly

Look at my handsome boy - I was sooooo proud!!! I wasn't able to make the Mother's Day assembly and it had really upset him, so I told work I needed a couple of hours and went to watch my son show his work in front of the school. As you can see in that last picture, he was so pleased to see me and Jasmine in the audience :-)

Dress up!

I love this picture of Jasmine - it totally sums up her creative streak!!! She was supposed to be getting into bed (hence the PJ's underneath), but went rummaging through the dressing up box. This was her creation - in her words, 'I'm a rock star, fireman, princess fairy!'