What were you doin on 4/26/2008?

I was rushing to the hospital and giving birth to this handsome boy! Carter turned 9! Carter is a special kid who is always willing to help, he may not be excited to help, but he is willing. Carter is a terrific brother to his siblings--he takes being a pest to his little sister very seriously. He looks after Mason, is caught in many teaching moments with Brennan and helps so much with Cameron that I don't know if I'd survive without him. Carter's newest love is to earn money, and mowing the lawn is his favorite way to do it. He is going to be a brilliant expert at taking care of a garden. Carter had a good birthday and was most excited for his new bike! He got that a couple weeks early because he wanted it while dad was still around. Happy Birthday Carter!! You are a rockstar!!

Updates

Cameron Argyle--1 month old

Cameron is always smiling! He laughs in his sleep, laughs at Carter especially and enjoys having someone right there chatting with him. He is starting to vocalize back and apparently has said his first words according to Taylor. These first words have included, but are not limited too; "Mom, I need you, I want milk, Taylor, school"



Taylor made Cameron a bracelet and needed to show us her necklace at the same time, she needed the memory for her brain.

 The boys were teasing Taylor and playing keep away with her letter that she wrote. She thought it was funny for a little while until she decided that is wasn't.

Easter Celebrations

 Easter was a great day, fun was had by all and the kids were crazy maniacs until all the eggs were found. The bunny hid baskets in our bungalow in the back and hid a bunch of eggs in the back garden. Luckily the kids found the eggs before it started to rain. When Taylor and Brennan ran off the bungalow porch to race to an egg it ended with a basket down. Taylor was devastated as she looked on in horror to her basket thrown everywhere. We were able to get everything up and she pressed on in good spirits.

 We had a fantastic night colouring eggs on Saturday. I had boiled 4 dozen eggs, cracked 3 eggs in the cooking process--or getting out of the pot process. We actually had 3 cracked while colouring that we couldn't salvage, and a few others suffered some fractures. Overall, it was fun to have the kids enjoying themselves and making messes. A positive note is we only spilt one cup of colour this year! That is an improvement.

 I love that Mike was posing for this picture and Mason was giggling while licking the eggs.

April Showers

You have heard the phrase, "April showers bring May flowers," England is taking this to a whole new level this year. In fact, we were in a drought, they banned the use of garden hoses. Mother Nature responded with a few rain storms, and decided to show us all what she could do with not stopping. These pictures were taken a month ago, when the kids thought it was fun it was raining. They don't have that same enthusiasm now a days. Apparently this is the wettest April we have had for over 100 years.

Catching Memories

Audley End --rewind post

Mike finally downloaded his phones massive amount of pictures onto my computer, so you might find a few rewinds on here in the next few days. This is just a church we passed on the way to Audley End, and we stopped on the way back home to get a few pictures and because Aunt Kellie loved these churches. I can't lie--they are one thing I am really going to miss about England.

Audley End House and Gardens, however, we were only able to do the gardens because the house was still closed for the season. There was a demonstration about side saddle riding that was very interesting and the kids loved. I think Grandma loved it even more!

We were able to go into the stables and meet the horses, which were HUGE! We didn't get a picture of  the outside of the stables, but let's just say those horses and any horses that have graced the presence of Audley End are very spoiled. Taylor dressed up as a little servant so she could pretend to muck out the stalls and decided that she wasn't going to like that job.

Audley End had its own fire crew and the boys were loving the old firetruck!

Walking around the massive estate and enjoying the beautiful English sun!

I just had to include the picture of Taylor screaming, I think she is still trying to find her fit into the family dynamic.