Teething!!!

We have 2 teething situations in our house at the moment.
1. Aleah is teething and has a really snotty nose and everything else that comes with it. Although she isn't waking up in the night or being grumpy...just snotty.
2. Samuel has his first loose tooth...or as we say here in the UK 'wobbly tooth'. This tooth has been wobbling for quite a long time and is very close to coming out. Sam is just slightly afraid to hurt it by using it to bite into food so this tooth is sticking around longer than it should. We will send a post and picture out as soon as it comes out!

Wedding Update

Praise the Lord!!! I have something to wear to the wedding! My late night shopping paid off. I have a dress and some shoes...now all I need is a few bits of jewelery and I am good to go!

Countdown

Ok, so there are now 10 days to go until the big Dryden wedding. How much do you think we can cram in over the next 10 days??? Do you really want to know: Youth group, guys night out, paintballing, dress shopping, school summer fair, homework, piano lessons, music recital, dance club, end of year dinners, work, ...plus the regular stuff like, cooking, cleaning, bathing! Dean's sister's wedding is on July 7. It has come around very fast. Dean will be performing the ceremony! (Quite nerve wracking to marry your only sister!)This is his first wedding!! Abby is a flower girl, Sam is a 'page-boy' (ringbearer) along with all the other boy cousins! We are just hoping that at least one of them will actually make it down the aisle. :) Aleah will be a mini-flower girl wearing the same dress as her sister (CUTE!). I am the only one who needs to get an outfit and do you think I can find anything!!! I am going late night shopping with some girlfriends on Thurs to try and get something decent. The guys (Dean's brothers and a few friends) have decided that they need to get a game of 'footy' in on Friday night, before having a big 'bachelor party' paintballing day on Sat.
Meanwhile it is the school summer fair on saturday which leaves me with the kids and lots of sweets! FUN! I'm sure everyone will have good time all around, but it sure sound tiring. We are now passing this nasty cold around as well. I am better, but still sound bad...Aleah has it now plus teething, Dean has a sore throat and runny nose...that's what family is all about...sharing!

Ok, so I finally got around to actually sending out our site address. Hopefully this will now motivate me to keep this blogging going.
Life is getting even busier over here. We are all running around trying to finish off the final preparations for Grace's wedding on July7. (Grace is Dean's sister) Dean's brother and family from Canada are over (actually his brother arrives today, Rachael and the boys have been here for 2 weeks). We've all gone down the the 'Canadian Plague' (tummy bug). I have now picked up a horrible cold, and the English weather is not helping us a bit. It is now cold and rainy...what happened to summer???? Our kids are still in school until the 21st of July so we are trying to keep up with end of year stuff, homework projects, and all that other fun stuff. I'll try and update you all with pictures etc later this week.
PS. We want to welcome the newest member of our family to the world. Welcome, Lincoln Cole Bates, born to Robbie, Kelli and Avonlea Bates. We love you all and look forward to meeting him in person...keep the photo's coming!

Half Term Fun

This has been quite a busy week. The kids have been on 'half-term' break, which basically means that they get a week off school in the middle of the term. And of course as per what usually happens, Dean had an exam at the end of the week. So, here I was again trying to come up with creative, and inexpensive things to do and cope with completely unpredictable English weather! I'm very thankful to have most of Dean's family nearby, they really come in handy in situations like this. Monday we were able to spend together as a family because it was a 'bank holiday'...everybody had the day off. Tuesday, we went to the Science Museum with my sister-in-law (Katie) and her 2 boys as well as Dean's Mum and some other children from the church she was watching. Thank goodness for public transport and free museums! Wednesday we spent most of the day inside sorting out Samuel's room, and indoor games etc. Thursday we (Me, Katie and co.)went to a farm/park and we were blessed with glorious weather so the children were able to play outside for several hours. Friday we had breakfast at IKEA...very exciting! The children got their faces painted there as well. I think the kids had a fun week, I know I'm pretty tired. They have another day off tomorrow (Monday) due to teacher inservice, and thankfully Dean will be able to spend the day with us which will lighten my load for sure!