Bag in a bag

I bought this kit at a craft store that had all the ribbon needed for making this purse- and I just finished it! It was fun to knit, and a challenge since I've only really done scarves and smaller things. I just finished sewing the lining in and thought I'd show you a pic! (Don't look too close if you ever see this in person- but it was fun to give it a go!)


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It's kind of hard to tell the colors- but the ribbon is light pink, cream, tan and a greenish color.

15 Months

...and still bald. Bailey, we love your bald head. Your Daddy and I kiss it a 1,000 times a day. You are just like your Daddy- adventurous, a risk-taker and funny! I can hardly believe that just 15 months ago you came into this world with one fist in the air, ready to conquer anything!

Happy 15 months old Bales!

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Fever

Well, we were suppose to attend two birthday parties today- a 70th and a 3rd. Both in Pontypool. The girls started running fever late Friday/ Saturday and both are not acting like themselves. Cerys even took a nap, without a fuss, so you know she was not feeling well! They have runny/stuffy noses, a slight fever and just overall yuckiness. I think they are on the mend, but just didn't want to chance spreading their cold. So Marc is on his way to Pontypool for the 70th Birthday party and I'm home with the girls. Bummer. Not that I'm home with the girls, but that we could not go to the parties today.

We've had a "lodger" part of this week. A girl, Sarah, from the states arrived on Wednesday. She is on the gap year course until December, so she has been staying with us until this morning when she was able to move into the house she will be living in. She is very kind and the girls have enjoyed having another person to play with. I'm sure she did not appreciate Cerys outside her door, in her loudest whisper, "Sawah, you awake yet?" every morning. :) If you think of it, say a prayer for her as she settles in here and gets ready to learn a lot from now till December!

Well, I better sign off to sweep and mop the floors. Guess that's one good thing about staying home today- get some chores done! (That was totally sarcastic.)

ps- say a prayer for Marc too. Tomorrow is the induction to the start of the new gap year program....we're having a big lunch and intros, etc. Marc will be leading worship as well as helping out in general, so I know he would appreciate prayers for all of it!

HELP!

Seriously, she is not even 3 yet! I'm practically in tears from all the testing of limits, talking back and no nap taking that has been happening lately. Please someone tell me if this is normal??? How can such a small child have such an attitude?!? I consider ourselves fairly strict on behavior, but now I'm second guessing everything there is to question about parenting and wondering if we've done anything right! Nothing seems to work. She can be so sweet, and the very next minute it's like she just falls apart. The tiniest thing sets her off. I know she's tired from the no-napping ordeal, but I can't make her sleep! She has to be in her room, curtains drawn, and no getting out of her bed and she will does not sleep! If she just happens to fall asleep for 30 minutes or so, she is forever awake at night!

Anyone else experiencing this?

100 posts and nothing much else

People out in bloggetyville seem to celebrate their 100th post, so here we are! 100 posts! Actually, it's only been 100 just since we've been here in January. I'm not counting the posts we did before on this blog, that have been deleted. They were from our last year in Cardiff. For security reasons, they've been deleted...forever. :)

We had a lovely weekend. Including picking blackberries on Saturday and I made my first cobbler! It was fabulous! I got the recipe from here. It was so easy and so yummy! You need to make one of these today! We picked about 6 cups of blackberries, so I have frozen them and will be eating some more of this cobbler on those dark, winter days that are coming all too quickly! Did I mention how nice it is in the summer with the sunset being so late? I don't even want to think about the winter! Our first winter in Pontypool was miserable! It was dark by 3:45 in the afternoon and rainy. Ugh. Anyway.

School starts back up tomorrow here, after a 6 week holiday. I'm just a wee bit sad just thinking about it because this time next year, Cerys will be starting school! They go to school when they are 4 years old here. So, next September, right before her 4th birthday she will start nursery school. It's every day of the week, for 2.5 hours in the morning. Then the following year, when she will be almost 5, she will start her Reception class, which is all day, every day. So, I'm going to enjoy this last year with no children in school and make some fun memories!

Our work here will start to get busier now, since University students are back in Cardiff. August is a holiday month, when Brits leave the country in search of sun and University students return home! So, you can think of us this week and say a prayer for Marc, as things get started up again.

Have a lovely day!

More....fits, tantrums and pictures!

Well, between our 14 month old's screaming and grunting (when she wants something or doesn't get her way or just feels like it!) and our almost 3 year old's thrashing on the floor, screaming fits and not napping- I'm kind of flustered and stressed. (Actually, she has fallen asleep a few times but closer to the time she should be waking up, so that makes for a very pleasant afternoon and constant singing/talking/chatting at bedtime because she's not tired. )


So, here's some more pictures of London.

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Bales asleep at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground


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Waiting on the tube!


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That's my girl! She picked out her very own My Little Pony and was so proud! Retail therapy.

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Lady on guard- notice the sign beside her

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Being a goofy girl on the tube!

Smashing Good Time

Well folks, we had a smashing good time in London this past week. I know you are on the edge of your seats waiting to hear all that we did. I'll just go ahead and give you the run down in list format. :) But first, here is a sweet picture of Bailey and Daddy, riding the tube!

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Wednesday- We drove over to London to stay with our friends. We left SUNNY Cardiff and arrived in gray, dreary London. The weather was awful, but oh well. It's usually about a 2 hour drive to London from our house, a bit longer to this particular part of London we were staying in this time. We didn't do much this day, Marc was meeting with someone there, a former gap year student so the girls and I just hung out at our friends flat. And let me just tell you about this flat. They live right on the Thames river y'all! It was an older flat, but had a huge bay window that overlooked the Thames. I loved it. We sat there watching boats go up and down the river, it was so neat!

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The view from their front room! Right on the Thames River!

Thursday- We made our way into town via the tube, the girls loved riding on the underground! We walked through St. James Park and made our way to Buckingham Palace to pick up our tickets for a tour- we were picking up our tickets for our Saturday tour, more about that later. We ate lunch at McDonald's (nice huh?) in Victoria Station, which made the girls totally happy! We went over to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground after lunch, even though it was raining. Since it didn't stop raining, we decided to get out of the rain and go into Hamley's, a large toy store in London. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. It was so crowded, but lots of fun! And then that night, our friends kept the girls so Marc and I could go see Mary Poppins in the West End. It was SO great! Complete with a man walking up the wall and across the ceiling and a flying Mary Poppins! It was so much fun!

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Yum Yum, lunch at McDonald's!

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The view from St. James' Park

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Cerys in Hamley's!

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Our Mary Poppins program

Friday- This was the day of disappointments. It was still overcast and raining off and on, but we made our way to the London Zoo. Please don't waste your time if you are ever considering going. What kind of zoo does not have elephants, bears or zebras? We saw 2 gorillas, some fish, some penguins, 2 giraffes and some birds. Cerys kept asking when we were going to see some animals. You know that's bad since we were at the zoo! We made the best of it and enjoyed a picnic lunch anyway. After we headed back into town, we had planned to eat at Chili's! They have one in Canary Wharf, and yes it's double the price, but so worth it. Except this time. My favorite chicken quesadillas were £11 (yes, that's $24, gasp!) and they looked and tasted like they had been sitting under a heat lamp for days. There was hardly any cheese and I had asked for no onions, and there were onions on it. The chips were hard and stale too. Please don't think I'm ungrateful, I was happy to eat the stale chips because the salsa was SO good. And I enjoyed an ICE old coke. But the best part of the day, was ending it with a Krispy Kreme donut! OH my. Sinful. When KK first came to London, they were only in Harrod's but they are now scattered all over the place, and as we were walking back to the tube from Chili's, there was a little stall of KK's and it just made me forget all about the lack of animals at the zoo and my cold quesadillas! :)

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London Zoo

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Perfect!

Saturday- The sun finally broke through and we had beautiful day! Our friends took the girls to the park so Marc and I could go on the tour of Buckingham Palace. I'm so glad we did this, it was £15 a person, but so much fun! They give you a headset for the tour and you can go at your own pace, so I would highly recommend it if any of you ever visit London. (It's only open to the public in July and August) We got to see the state rooms and dining rooms- amazing! We also saw a special exhibition that is only on this year because it's the Queen's 60th wedding anniversary. They had her wedding dress displayed and an assortment of wedding gifts they had received from around the world. It was fabulous! My favorite room was the Throne room! It was so amazing to see their two chairs on the red platform, it was almost breathtaking to me. I am a bit on the dramatic side anyway, but I just thought it was so cool. I know this sounds cheesy, but the room just commands your respect. I stood a little straighter and taller than normal. I started thinking about God, being seated on The Throne and I just couldn't imagine how much more magnificent it will be! Anyway, it was just a little moment between God and me. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but we could once we left the Grand Hall. The picture below is the back of Buckingham, where the Queen hosts Garden parties and such. One funny thing that I laughed out loud about was the lady who narrorates the audio tour, at one point she said, "You might have noticed the copious gilding around the palace." Well, "copious" is quite an understatement. I've never seen so much gold in my life. I just found it very humorous.

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Oh, before heading home Saturday afternoon, we took a river cruise on the Thames and just loved it! Overall, it was great trip. We are exhausted from all the carrying and lifting we did- most tube stations do not have lifts (elevators) so it was hard work carrying the stroller up and down the stairs- some of those stations are DEEP underground! We both got a good workout!

So, that was... 2 children, a stroller with buggy board, a backpack loaded to capacity, sweatshirts, raincoats, sippy cups, and umbrella. We are glad to be home!


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Daddy explaining to Cerys how the underground operates!

We're home!

Hey y'all, we are back from London and had a great time, even though it rained 3 of the 4 days we were there. Oh well. Once I get caught up on things I'll tell you more about our trip. The girls did great, considering we dragged them all over London- up and down tube stations and all over the town! One of the hi-lights of our trip was seeing Mary Poppins in the West End, it was "practically perfect in every way!" Go ahead and laugh. :)

While I was gone, my Monk and Nealge CD arrived! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! If I had thought about things clearly at the time I would have asked that my CD be mailed to me like my friend Adele, but I didn't think like that- instead I had them mail it to my mom in TX and then she mailed it to me, so it took extra long getting here, but it finally arrived! I already listened to it twice and suggest you go out and by it on Septmeber 18th! The girls were dancing all over the place and we have really enjoyed having it play in the house!

I'll be back!

Wondon

Hey folks, Cerys wanted y'all to know that we're off to Wondon (London) in the morning for a little R&R. We will be staying with some friends for a few days. I'm sure I'll have some fun pictures to show you when we return! The London Zoo and the show Mary Poppins are planned, so we'll have lots to share I hope!

Pray for our safety please and for us to have an enjoyable time. Oh, and for the girls to behave! :)

Cheerio!

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