Fab at 40

Thank you so much to all my friends who made turning 40, a real pleasure.

Thank you so much for being part of my day in some way - thank you for the gifts, the cards, the visits... thank you for reminding me that life BEGINS at 40 - that it's only a number... that it's not downhill, but the START of an exciting new decade in my life! I AM excited about the future and so blessed to have you in my life to play a part. Thanks for your friendship and love. I appreciate you.

Keyring Mini Tag Holder

Stuart goes SkinHead!

Stuart decided that, in life, there are some things you HAVE to try - at least once! Becoming a SKINHEAD was one of them! He's had mixed opinions about this - mostly being called a 'thug'... hehe. Personally, I'm not sure it's the best style he's had, but hey - it's fun and he's brave enough to try it, so why not!

Mother's Day

What a lovely morning... woke up to coffee in bed from my darling hubby.... a gorgeous hand made card from Jonathan... and breakfast at the King's Head. Then, for the rest of the day, playing on my keyboard, and generally chilling out in my Craft Room doing fiddly bits with coloured papers, photographs and embellishments :)

We Are Mud

Jonathan asked me a few days ago, if we could have a pottery painting session at the We Are Mud Coffee Shop. I thought it was a great idea. He offered to pay for himself, so it was a definite plan :) ........... Gail's Mug to the left So, today, we took a trip to the coffee shop. Reece wasn't keen on painting pottery, so he brought along school books and sat at a table nearby, while Jonathan and I worked on our mugs. It was fun... definitely a good mother/son bonding time! Jonathan's Mug to the right ........ Now that the artwork is done, we wait a week for the shop to do the firing and glazing and then collect the finished products next week on Saturday. Will post pictures of the mugs when we get them!

Scrap Queenz go live

Belinda invited me and a couple of other ladies to her house for scrapbooking! We have decided to have a group and have named it SCRAP QUEENZ. The plan is that we meet up once a month for scrapbooking.... one of us will decide on a topic and organise the papers, etc to go with it, and then when we get together, it's a surprise for the rest of the group as to what the plan for the day is. This is a photograph from our first scrapbook day together at Belinda's house, which was such great fun - what should've been a 3 hour scrapbook event, turned into a 6 hour session!!!

My Punk!

The British Night.... recently held at our church to raise funds for the youth camp. Stuart asked me what he should wear for the fancy dress... so I suggested he be a real 80's punk (knowing full well how this would suit him!). Needless to say, he was a hit! No one could believe how well he fitted the image!! It was fun... the kids were highly embarrassed... oh no! we're at that stage, are we ... and were hiding in the back of the car on the way to the function, in case someone spotted them and saw Dad, aka punk, sitting in the front! Hilarious!

What has happened to the years?

Today is the 5th of June 2007! Wow, what has happened to the years? So much has changed .... I am now employed by Cape Hill Medical Centre as a Medical Receptionist. It's a great job and I work with some lovely people. Stuart has been self-employed for years now, but has also started doing home maintenance! At the moment he's busy doing a couple of jobs for Gary and Lorita, building a fireplace and redoing their front garden. Oh, and we go to a new church. Well, we've been there almost two and a half years now. Unreal how the years have flown by. Another few changes .... Reece has been attending Harborne Primary school for the last year, although we're taking him back into homeschooling at the end of this school year, which is in July! It's been interesting, and he's really enjoyed the work side of things. But it has been quite a nasty experience being bullied and being 'different' because he's spent the last 5 years before that being homeschooled. Kids can be so cruel and it's taken it's toll on him. So we really look forward to the end of the school year. Right now, the boys are next to door at Hari's birthday party, Stuart is out at the other friends and their sons 1st birthday party, and I'm enjoying the serenity at home!

This past Sunday was a great service - it was family church day, which means that instead of going straight to Sunday School at the start of church, the kids spend the day in the church and they're very involved in the service. In this picture they were all up front singing an 'action' song for us adults to learn. Later on in the service, Reece and Jonathan were doing the collection as well... they were so excited to be able to do things in the service! It was beautiful to see them worshipping as well... especially Reece. He has a real worshippers heart! I could see him waving his flag, with his eyes closed, singing at the top of his voice. It was so beautiful!

Stuart working out in his shed....this picture is taken through our kitchen window

and from the other side of the room.... 

Stuart has done an incredible job on the lounge. When I got home from work yesterday... the painting was all done and the dado rail was up. He had also put together one of the shelves! We put in the new WHITE carpet last night and rearranged the chairs and then Stuart and Reece put together the corner shelf.  

Change is in the wind...

Stuart and I have also been reading the book - A Purpose Driven Life... it's fantastic. It's our evening read together.... (When I don't fall asleep and land up having to read the same chapter the next day....). Some exciting news ... Reece and Jonathan got baptised recently. Reece - on our weekend away camping in Wales... Stuart baptised him in the sea. We had met up there with other friends as well and they were with us for the occasion. It was fantastic. Reece came out of the sea saying that he felt so happy inside! And then Jonathan got baptised a couple of weeks ago - also by Stuart - when we had a church picnic at the River Arley. It was also a beautiful day. We went to a South African bring 'n braai on Saturday just past. It was such great fun... and it didn’t even rain (we've had unbelievable amounts of rain this summer....I've never known anything like it. I wake up in the morning and see the sun shining and try doing a load of washing, but even before the load is finished, it's chucking down with rain...ha-ha). Anyway... we have new neighbours next door. They are a Pilipino couple with a little boy who is 20 days younger than Jonathan. His name is Jeremy. Mary, is pregnant and due in September (or is it October... yes, I think so). Lovely... I hope she has a little girl. What fun that should be! They are a lovely couple and the boys are getting on very well... Reece and Jonathan are so excited about having a permanent friend next door... their age! That's great for them. Yesterday we drove past a house which we’d never seen before – it seemed derelict and of course, this excited Stuart who is always on the lookout for potential properties to buy! But a little voice – Jonathan - piped up from the back of the car saying: “But if we move here, we won’t be able to play with Jeremy every day anymore!” Very sweet! On a more homely note - my boss was throwing out an old carpet on Tuesday (old for them and new for us.. still in great condition, but they've redone all the radiators in their home and now the carpets needed replacing as the original carpets didn’t fit in with the new radiator positions...). I took the carpet home after work on Tuesday. Stuart and I spent the evening moving out all the furniture and pulling up the old carpet. The new one fits in the lounge beautifully. BUT it led to a whole new decorating spree (you know me and my love for redecorating... any excuse hey!). SO... yesterday morning was spent at Homebase choosing colours to repaint the lounge and a few new pieces of furniture... i.e. shelving! We painted when we got home and I think today, we are ready to put in the carpet and reorganise all the furnishings! It's looking beautiful at the moment. A really classy lounge. (Well we think so anyway). Stuart is going to buy some underfelt today and he'll probably have the carpet in by the time I get home (yippee). It's almost as good as a move! My friend's husband is turning 50 soon, and she took me up on a joke that we should make a CD for him! She plays the violin and he loves classical music. Well, yesterday we got together to work on some songs for this potential CD. I am SO bad at playing classical music after all these years of only playing worship music! Oh dear - I will have to buff up my music reading skills because she is dead serious about this album that we're going to record for him as a surprise! Well I guess that is it for now……

Our family photograph, taken at the wedding of friends on 14 August 2004. 

Our house - 4 Lime Grove - okay, so it's only half painted at the moment. Stuart will finish it - soon - I'm sure!  

Reece and Jonathan found the cutest little bunny rabbit in the street on Monday. They decided to 'adopt' it and Jonathan named it "Africa" 

It's a holiday today....

Today is a already a wonderful day. It is Monday, a bank holiday and a school holiday for us. Jonathan, my youngest darling son, was so excited when daddy announced that today we would be enjoying a break from the usual... home schooling, work, etc! Just enjoy a wonderfully lazy day together as a family. It started off with me waking up nice and early and coming downstairs, making a lovely morning cup of tea (after breaking the first cup I tried using!!??) and sitting down with Stuart when he woke up, to read "A Purpose Driven Life" together in the lounge. Jonathan woke up and decided to join us on the already cramped couch, squeezing his way in between us as only Jonathan can. I decided to leave the couch and tidy up the kitchen a bit. Jonathan.... as he does... followed me through to the kitchen saying "Mom, I reeeeaally feel like playing with playdough today. Do you think we could make some please?" Who can resist! So out came all the ingredients.... we weighed the flour and the salt, measured the water and oil and mixed it all together. In the meantime... Reece is having a lovely long lie in! He has hopped into our bed and snuggled up under the covers and fallen asleep again, only to be woken by Jonathan calling him to join in with the fun of playing with the playdough! They have made some really cute little things out of playdough! Stuart fell asleep again on the couch and has just woken up to join the family for the day! Anyway - this is only our first posting on the site and hopefully it will turn into a wonderful way of keeping our family and friends updated with our life in the UK. More of the same .... later!