Hello!!

Gosh! It’s been over six years since I last posted on this blog! As you might imagine, a lot has changed and happened in those years. I won’t even try to write it all down. But we are still here, living life in sunny Hampshire now in a vicarage on the edge of a new housing estate in a small market town. The most significant changes in our lives have been Lee’s ordination as a priest in the Church of England in 2014, my diagnosis of CFS/ME in 2013 and AJ’s diagnosis with Type 1 Diabetes in 2016. Other important things have included Jordan’s completion of his school life after GCSEs and beginning A Levels at college, learning to drive and discovering a passion for running now competing in the local athletics team. Tim & Luke are in the middle of GCSEs right now and are passionate about drawing, drama, video games, the natural world & justice. AJ has almost finished primary school and loved baking, singing & dancing. I’ve missed my blogging days but life has moved on so fast it’s been hard to keep up! Perhaps I will again now, who knows? It took me long enough to work out how to log into my Blogger account after so long! 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Daviestribe. We hope 2013 is full of peace, blessings and fun for you all. :o)

Daviestribe Advent

It's busy here as usual! Christmas festivities are under way & it's all rather exciting! We all LOVED the carol service we attended at Trent Vineyard Church last Sunday. Such a magical atmosphere combined with the best singing of Christmas carols I've ever experienced (amazing music including classical instruments as well as Trent Vineyard's usual drums, bass, guitars & keyboards plus fabulous Gospel choir who sang lovely arrangements) as well as great dramas & video clips. We were served a cup of tea by Annie-Joy's school teacher & the kids enjoyed eating the chocolate cake at the start of the service. Perfect!

Timmy & Luke had a Roman Day at school. I had fun making them some togas & Emperor garlands. They had a really good day with the other children in their year.

Jordan's year group had a similar themed day earlier in the year too when they all dressed up as Victorians. Jordan was a chimney sweep! I did dirty up his shirt with black facepaint but he still looks rather too clean in this picture! The boys all really enjoy their new school- it's so creative & exciting for them! They love it!

Father Christmas came to visit at the college family Christmas meal where they all received a gift before the whole college community gathered for a service in the chapel. Jordan is still enthusiastic about the whole thing (as were all the older teenage kids who were there). It was quite special actually!

The Davies house is full of Advent calendars of varying kinds. I love the numbered tea lights we have this year. We light them at tea time & have a candle lit tea!

It's been lovely & frosty here lately. The downside is that it has been very icy. I came off my bike on black ice a couple of weeks ago & a friend of ours from the same street as us slipped & broke his ankle! We are all taking extra care now!

The Christmas DVDs are out of the box in the garage & we are all enjoying a bit of festive nostalgia.

The Playmobil nativity (which we also use as an Advent calendar taking pieces each day out of the little numbered stockings that hang on our fireplace) is helping us all retell the Christmas story. This year's nativity has an increased number of Roman soldiers included as the boys were keen to consolidate their knowledge. AJ is looking forward to the arrival of the Wise Men & their camel (she can see its legs sticking out of the top of the stocking!)

I made a festive hat for the college spouses Christmas party. It's a Christmas pudding! I made the pompom while watching the kids having their swimming lessons. I'd forgotten how much fun making them is- and so simple too! I won joint second place for my efforts!

Lee & I got dressed up for the college Christmas ball. It was such a fun night! Great food, fab company, lots of laughs & a chance to dance and have fun together with all the other students & staff.

This year we have only been to watch one school Christmas play- Miss AJ's. It was a very slick, professional performance by the youngest members of the school. Annie-Joy was a fantastic musician, very enthusiastic especially with the coconuts! The boys have enjoyed carol concerts & the school Year 3 nativity without us which has been a mixed blessing for me. Next week we shall put up the Christmas tree & decorations! The boys are happy that our new house has a real chimney because Father Christmas has a way to get in to deliver their gifts! I hope everyone else is enjoying Advent preparations too.

Moshi Birthday!

And then they were nine years old! We have two very excited boys in our house today. They are over the moon with their presents & the Moshi Monsters cake that I made them. It's lovely to see them so happy. :0)

Dotty Spotty!

The kids went to school wearing spots in aid of Children in Need. It's the first time they've done something at school to raise money for Pudsey so they were quite excited! It turns out boys don't wear spotty clothes so the school secretary brought 1,200 dotty stickers in to decorate the clothes of any children who were spotless, in return for 50p! Jordan put his on his jumper while the twins decided to decorate their faces! What a laugh! The school raised £222 from cake sales & spotty clothes fees. Jordan enjoyed helping to sell the cakes at break time too. Great work!

Robin Hood! Robin Hood! Running Through The Glen!

Today Jordan & I took part in the Robin Hood Adventure Challenge Races in Sherwood Pines Forest.

Jordan did the Little John 2k fun run with a large mix of children of all ages. The start was a little crazy so none of us saw him go past us after the klaxon sounded which was a little worrying! But my tactic to shout 'Go Jordi!' worked because he heard me & it spurred him on.

Not long after the race had started the first children began to head back up the trail to the finish line! They were fast!! And Jordan was there with them! I lost count of how many went past us but Jordi may well have been in the top ten finishers, but was certainly well within the top twenty. A fantastic effort!

Our training runs have paid off! Jordan even got a finishers medal to go with the t shirt he received at the finish line. He is very proud of himself, as are we!

And then it was my turn to run! The start was also a little crazy as the 5k race and the 10k race all began together. Some of the Evil Sheriff Duathlon competitors were still finishing in the same space were about to start in too! I've never run in a race before, well not since I was a kid & ran in the Stevenage Fun Run that is! It's very different from competing in a triathlon. It was quite an amazing experience running along side hundreds of other people all with the same purpose, focused, silent except for the thudding of feet upon sand & the sound of controlled breathing, surrounded by beautiful forest scenery. It was a very hilly race but I finished with a personal best time of 35 minutes. I crossed the finished line with my usual Cheshire Cat grin! The announcer, who welcomes the finishers by name as they cross the line, said over the PA system 'Here's Emily! She's always smiling! She's a lovely lady!' I asked Lee if they said something about everyone who finished. He said 'No, just about you!' Nice eh?    

I was very pleased with my race prize- this lovely red t shirt to match Jordan's! All in all, we had a really great day out together, despite Lee being poorly. It was good to be out in the forest in the winter sunshine. Sherwood Pines is full of amazing hideouts & adventure play areas for children so I know we will definitely be going back there again!

PS The man who won the 10k race finished a few minutes before I crossed the line! He ran 5k in 16 minutes! Wow!

Shoe Box!

It's that time of year again when we fill a shoebox with soap, toothpaste, stationary & other exciting gifts! It's something I always look forward to doing each year. Not sure AJ was as enthusiastic to give away the neon plastic recorder, cuddly teddy bear & the shiny butterfly stickers we bought for the parcel! It's all part of learning & growing I guess. And a little girl somewhere will be delighted with her gifts. :0)

Not Quite Torville & Dean!

A lovely lady gave us a gift of some money recently so that we could do something as a family. We decided to go ice skating! Much fun was had slipping & sliding on the ice with the help of penguins Percy, Pearl, Preya & Pen!

We were all rather impressed with the elderly lady who could figure skate exceptionally well & delighted in showing the youngsters how it should be done! Everyone in the Davies tribe has improved since the first time we skated back in April. I still want to realise my childhood ambition of being a speed skater. They do lessons at the rink so maybe.....

Jordan Does Cyclocross!

 I went for a run round a different park this morning to discover a cycle race being set up. As I came to the end of my run (4.5k if you're interested!) the park began filling up with children on bikes dressed in cycling gear. Intrigued, I decided to go & ask what was going on! After a brief conversation with the lady at the registration tent I found out that there were several children's races, as well as the adult races, & that it wasn't too late to take part. I rang Lee to see if Jordan wanted to take part, which of course he did!

 An hour later we were both back in the park with Jordan's bike & gear. I paid the entry fee of £1 & filled in the relevant paperwork. We both had no idea how a cyclo race works so we had to ask! The under 12's race consisted of a winding, undulating grass course with the competitors completing as many laps of the course in 15 minutes as possible. After completing one lap of the course as a warm up, all the children were lined up to start the race in age order. The judges checked race numbers were positioned correctly & a race briefing was given. The mass start was a little scary! Even Jordan thought so!

 Jordan did brilliantly....

 ...competing against a lot of very accomplished young riders....

 ....all wearing the proper gear...

 ....with very competitive parents, some of whom were more like coaches calling out which gears the children should be using, or what pace they should be keeping! They were all very friendly though. I cheered Jordan on with lots of encouragement as I ran around various parts of the course taking photos!

He got tired towards the end but finished strong! He was very proud of himself, and rightly so! He really enjoyed his goodie bag at the finish line which included a little badge bearing words & pictures that read 'I love my bike'. Nice! Jordan can't wait to do his next race! :o)

At Home

We have had a busy few weeks settling into our new surroundings so today, as several of our children have lost their voices & all of us felt in need of some quiet rest, we stayed at home & pottered around doing nothing in particular! Just what the doctor ordered!

Some homework was completed, baths were enjoyed, telly was watched, toys played with, naps taken & several loads of washing tackled! I even went for a run in glorious autumn sunshine too. After lunch Annie-Joy & I made a delicious apple cake together which we all enjoyed eating as an afternoon snack.

Being busy & social is fantastic but I'm also very grateful for the chance to relax today. :o)

Batman's House

When handing us the first post at our new house the very friendly postman welcomed us enthusiastically to the area. He was obviously immensely proud of his home turf because he spent some time standing on our doorstep extolling its virtues & informing us of various local attractions that we must visit forthwith! One place was Wollaton Hall, the film location for Bruce Wayne's mansion in the recent Batman films. It is an awe inspiring building set on the top of a hill & surrounded by a vast expanse of parkland complete with deer. They wander freely, apparently oblivious to the fact that the local golf course is interwoven through their pastures. In turn, the golfers also seem unconcerned about their proximity to such large numbers of stags as they strive to achieve a birdie at the ninth hole. It certainly makes for a comical sight!

So the Davies tribe passed a very pleasant, hot & sunny afternoon at the park with a large group of people including Lee's parents, a college friend of mine & her family as well as a family who live a few houses down from us who have recently moved here from my home town of Stevenage! It's certainly a small world. We are looking forward to exploring Batman's estate further over the next couple of years. Maybe we will find the Bat Cave one day?! Or perhaps we might stumble across the well.... ;-)

A Little Princess

Today Annie~Joy celebrates her 5th birthday. It seems no time at all since we were in Liverpool Women's Hospital very early on a sunny Monday morning waiting for her to be born. In contrast, today we were dashing all four Davies children to school before Lee & I went for a run together! When we picked AJ up from school at lunch time (she is easing her way into full time school for a couple of weeks) we went off for a birthday meal at Frankie & Bennie's just the three of us. The boys have school dinners so we have been eating a main meal at lunch time so that we can all eat sarnies at teatime & save on washing up & faff! When AJ's ice cream arrived at the table it came complete with a candle in the top! The whole restaurant sang happy birthday to her as well which was lovely!

Afterwards we headed to the Disney shop to buy our little princess her very own princess! She was over the moon with Aurora! And to top it all off at teatime she saw her princess cake which she spied in the cake aisle at the supermarket almost a year ago & has dreamed of having as her own birthday cake since then. I have to say, the cake tasted delicious even though it wasn't homemade! AJ was delighted with her sleeping beauty cake but there was some confusion from one of her brothers about who the cake was of. A certain boy thought that there was a princess sitting on top of a huge pink pumpkin! Time to get re-aquainted with all those fairy stories for that boy I think! Gave us all a good giggle anyway! ;o)

All in all, Annie~Joy has been well & truly spoilt today! But she deserves it. After all, it isn't every day you turn five is it?

Tabernacle Insipration!

The kids came out of Sunday School, sorry I mean JAM & Frij, this morning armed with cool bible magazines. Jordan was inspired by today's reading (all about the Israelites building the tabernacle) & as soon as he came home from church began building a den with AJ. I was summond into the living room to see their handy work when it was almost complete. I exclaimed 'What a lovely tabernacle den!' to which AJ said 'It's not a tabernacle it's a house. Look! There's the fridge!' Sure enough in the corner was a pile of play food & a stack of plates & cups. Well, you can't argue with that can you?!

As with any major building project there have been many alterations, changes of plans, negotitaions about site location & the use of particular building materials (Luke wasn't that keen to give permission for the builders to use his blanket but consented in the end so long as he was allowed in too!). But at last the magnificent den was completed! Now our house is filled with the sounds of excited children deciding where cushions should be placed & how to make the den even better. So far the construction hasn't collapsed but my bag of clothes pegs is getting emptier by the second & there is a load of washing almost ready to go out on the line......

New Beginings

We've exchanged blue uniforms for red & now Miss AJ is old enough to join the boys at school. How time flies! We are all learning new routines, a new route to school, new rules, new everything! I think we all like it so far but it's all very different & a little bit alien. Here's to a good start to the new school year!