How cool is this!

When we eventually decide to take the plunge and have baby #3, I am so going to buy this CD album.....

And though I'm not the biggest Coldplay fan, I do like some of their tracks such as 'Yellow' and 'The Scientist', so I wouldn't mind getting this one too....

A welcome change from the usual lullabies....

Visit from Toronto via Munich

When I was 17 years old, I went to my aunt's wedding in Canada.  Sitting on the end of a pew during the service, a lady snuck in late and sat beside me.  We got chatting, and clicked so well, that I missed the family photos because we were nattering away!  We stayed in touch and the next year when I went back to visit family, we met up a few times - even travelling to Montreal with a couple others on a weekend trip.  Towards the end of my 6 weeks there, Karen (as she is called) told me that her cousin Owen would be going to the University of Birmingham to study for his master's and would I like to come to his leaving party and meet him? As I was going to study at Aston University in Birmingham, she thought we could stay in touch. I thought, why not.....

And the rest, as they say, is history........

I remember going to meet him at the airport, helping him lug his enormous, lead-heavy cases up the long, narrow flight of strairs to his 1st floor campus accommodation.   Helping him to sort through the random selection of manky pots, plates and cutlery (left behind by other students) that they allowed the international students to have, trying to find the least yucky ones.  Cooking him chicken and pasta for his first night's meal, and a year of drinking at the Graduates bar (cheap, cheap booze!), getting chips and scallops (of the potato kind, not shellfish) with cheap mayo and ketchup from John's chippy at 3am in the morning, playing pool at the Black Horse pub just off campus, of him sneaking me and Joss into the Business School computer rooms late at night,  me serving him half pints (he actually meant for me to charge for a half and fill up a full, but I got the wrong end of the stick!) at the Students Union bar where I worked for a while..... and many other great, fun memories......

Since he graduated, I have visited him a few times in Canada, but he has never been back to England......now he has no excuse.  He has recently moved to Munich on a 3 year secondment, and within a month of arriving there, he was on a plane to see us!

And we had a GREAT weekend!  Jasmine, in particular, really took to him (the last time he saw the kids, she was just 18months old), and spent as much time glued to him as possible.....

Here Owen is helping Jas with her school reading book.  Only problem is, he had her pronouncing 'Ball' as "Barl" in the canadian way - too funny!

Owen bought Ben a little stamping set from Monsoon/Accessorize and Jasmine picked out a set of five little rings with cute little animal faces on them.  Owen made her promise to look after them as, other than his wife, she is the only girl he has ever given a ring to!!!  And she has looked after them, they are all safely in their case by her bedside table.  Ahhhhh

As it was also Nick's birthday, we had Sienna round and I cooked an indian feast.....

The kids got to stay up reeeeaaaallly late.......

Jasmine got so over excited.......after rolling about on the floor for a bit, she went on to run laps around the blue rug for 10 mins solid....I kid you not!

The next day, we had a mini reunion.  My best friend and flat mate at uni, Joss, came to visit, and, as it turns out,Owen's flat mate from halls, Jenni (whom we all got to know pretty well too), now lives in Abingdon.  So she came along too.....

from l-r, Joss, Owen, Jenni, me :-)

Jasmine, in her favourite Scooby costume, being over-excited by Joss and Jenni.......like she needs any encouragement!

Come back soon Owen!!! (I know you are reading this :-)  )

Facing the fear

Despite having fallen obsessively in love with making things (cue many late nights and NEVER enough time or energy to complete things as quickly as my patience would like), the sewing machine that I inherited from Gail has sat in its box taunting me.  "Go on, take me out and have a go....I dare you.  I double dare you!...."

So out it came.  And surprise surprise, I actually enjoyed it!  I dug out some of Nick's old Jeans and an old shirt of mine and whipped up this Ipod cover for Nick for his birthday (Well, 'whipped up' might be overstating a little....I was up 'til God knows what hour this morning hand sewing the finishing bits). 

Despite my pleasure at having been able to make it, I was worried that Nick, who is rather choosy when it comes to design, would find it naff.  But you know what?  He actually showed it off to his mates at the pub when they went for birthday drinks.  What's more, he reckons that with a little refinement, I could actually sell them.....  I was well pleased :-)  Though I won't be selling any anytime soon!

I will not ever NEVER eat peas

But baby will!

You probably can't see the pea that is stuck in baby's mouth in this picture, but it provided Jasmine with no end of amusement!

Answers to prayer

Our car has been out of action for almost three weeks, and up until yesterday, we had been very lucky in always having someone willing to take us on the school run and me to work.  Yesterday we had to walk home from North Leigh to Witney.  A walk that took us 1hr 1/2.  Yes, that's right, an hour and a half, for part of which we were rained on.  We managed to keep our spirits up by singing every nursery rhyme and song we could think of.  A particularly fun (!) part was when we stopped by a field full of sheep.  When they heard my singing they started to run.  So we sang louder and they ran faster.  Just as they thought it was safe and started to slow down, Jasmine screamed (and Jasmine is good at screaming!).  The sheep took off again at full pelt until the field was empty - we thought it was hilarious!

As we walked on and on down the side of this A road (so therefore, not a pleasant country road) we started to get achy and weary and fed up.  The road just seemed to stretch on and on into infinite.  During another bout of grumbling I stopped and said to the kids that we are very lucky that we have legs that we can use to walk.  And that there are children in some parts of the world who have to walk further than this to school and back every day.  Hearing this, Ben said "that's a prayer" and he closed his eyes, put his free hand to his forehead and prayed "dear Jesus, thank you that we have arms and legs that work. Amen"

Now how is that for gratitude!  I was so proud of my two walking so far, having to carry all their school stuff down a busy road, in the cold and sometimes rain with only the odd grumble.  And they finished up feeling happy about it because they understood the privilege of having a body that works and does what it's meant to. 

I also learned a valuable lesson.  I was feeling so sorry for myself and the children having to walk so far and I was feeling so disappointed that, despite my many prayers, we still didn't have the money together to fix the car (we had been quoted almost £1000!) I was upset that it was taking so long to get the car back and that on top of that we were now having to walk home (even though up to this point I had a lift or a loaned car whenever I had needed one).  I was feeling like God just didn't care after all.

Then Nick came home with the car later that evening.  And he had news.  The Cam belt wasn't snapped, as they had originally thought, but rather the started motor needed replacing (as we had originally thought').  They sorted out the starter motor, replaced the cam belt anyway and changed the oil.  The total cost?  Icluding what we had paid the AA for the year's roadside assistance, it came to a grand total of £566 and 30 something pence.  Up to that point we had £567 together.  How amazing is that!  Answers don't always come in the way we expect or when we expect. 

Bonfire Night

All week Ben and Jas had been looking forward to going to see a bonfire and some fireworks.  We had baked potatoes with sausages for dinner and then, when Nick got home from work, we set off for Combe.  Unfortunately we got there too late for the fireworks, but we did get to stand around a big bonfire with everyone and used up a couple of packets of sparklers.  I hadn't actually wanted to go anywhere, it was very cold, my limbs were aching from our marathon walk, I was tired and most importantly of all, I was engrossedd in my book: Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom (which I have now finished after only 1 1/2 days - it was that good).  But as usual I really enjoyed the family time and there is just something so alluring about a big fire (controlled of course!).  And I love sparklers as much as the next kid!