Christmas

This is the first year we've spent Christmas day at home as we've always had to go to my parents house before.

We were really looking forward to having an enjoyable family Christmas where we could relax knowing there weren't going to be any tensions or arguments.

I bought us a Wii to share as our main present. I wasn't sure what Levi would think as he said he wanted a PS3 but in the end he really liked it.

As well as the console I bought two extra remote sets (so we can play together), Mario kart (with extra steering wheels) Lego Batman and Rabbids go home.

The kids have had so much fun playing it.

Levi's main present was a WWE 12 game for his Xbox

and Theo's was a provisional driving licence.

The missionaries came over for Christmas dinner. We bought them these very stylish Christmas ties.

None of us really like Christmas pudding so I made syrup sponge instead which just happens to be Theo's favourite.

All in all it was a lovely day and the boys said it was the best Christmas they've ever had.

Ward talent night

A few weeks ago we had a talent night at church. Theo and I decided to do a song, we've never performed together before and I was really nervous as it's been about 20 years since I last sang in public.

Oops

Race take 1

Race take 2

Ninja Theo

New boots

I've been trawling the internet for a while now looking for some nice winter boots. I finally found these on ebay a few weeks ago but Royal Mail managed to misplace my parcel so I only just got them today.

They're made by Alegria so I can wear them without being in agony and they're lined with sheepskin so they'll keep me nice and warm which will help my arthritis.

Millhouses Park

Yesterday I made a picnic and we went to Millhouses park.

On the way we found some bumper cars.

It's lovely to see the boys back together again.

We all had a go on the outdoor gym equipment.

The wanderer returns

After being at my parents house for 18 months Theo finally decided he wanted to come home. He arrived looking like he was wearing a bush on his head so I marched him straight down to the barber shop. It's been lovely having him home but it won't be for long as he's joining the army as soon as he's fit enough.

Luminarium

Today we went down to the cathedral to see the luminarium that has been visiting Sheffield this week.

The light shining through the walls produced lots of lovely colours

and there was tranquil music playing in the background so it was really nice.

Levi said he enjoyed it but it was rather expensive for what it was.

Let there be light

My new house has good sized gardens front and back but the previous tenants filled them up with twelve trees, six of which were planted directly outside windows or so close to the house that they blocked out the light. Last night Craig and his son Ben chopped four of them down and drastically pruned another one so I can now see the sky from every window and the house is much lighter.

LDS youth

As the mother of a 13 year old boy I always worry about the different influences around my son. When I see things like this I'm reminded how blessed we are to be in the church.

Theo turns 18

18 years ago Theo came into the world. He weighed 8lb 9oz, he was 56cm long, he had a full head of red hair and he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

It never occurred to me that he might have red hair but I'm so glad he did. I hated my hair when I was a child. My mum used to tell me that it was beautiful and that people used to stop her in the street and say what lovely hair I had but I didn't believe her. Then I had Theo. When we were still at the hospital I came back into the room after having a shower to find all the midwives standing round his cot saying how beautiful he was. He got the same reaction from all the visitors that came to the ward. When I started taking him out in his pram it was a nightmare, it used to take me so long to get anywhere because everyone kept stopping me to say how lovely he was.

Being a single parent at 17 wasn't easy and we've had our ups and downs over the years but if I had the chance I probably wouldn't change a thing. Anyway I decided to mark his birthday by sharing some of my photos of Theo from birth to aged 18.

You'll have to excuse the quality of some of these pictures as they are proper photographs (They didn't have digital cameras when you were born Theo) I wanted to scan them but for some reason my scanner won't work today so I've taken a photo of the photo.

He was about 7 months old in this photo. He loved the sound of Granddad's drums and used to sleep soundly next to him when he was playing. As soon as he was old enough he'd sit on his lap and have a go with the sticks.

This was taken at his first birthday party.

He loved this rocking horse.

He used to wake up every morning, take all his clothes off and put on his Postman Pat mac.

Opening presents on his second birthday.

Playing dress up aged 3 and a half.

Preschool Christmas show.

They sang a song with actions -

I'm a little snowman short and fat,
Here's my pipe and here's my hat,
Count my buttons one two three,
Won't you sing along with me.

I remember this song so well because as he got up to sing the song one of his buttons fell off. As he sang one two three he was supposed to point to each button. He sang one two and spent the rest of the song looking for button number three. As you can imagine everyone was in stitches.

This was the miniature garden contest at the summer fair. Somebody mixed the labels up so although Theo's garden won they gave the prize to someone else.

He was always such a good brother to Levi when he was younger.

He was about 6 in this picture. He used to spend hours making things at his little desk at the top of the stairs. In this photo he's made himself a sword, a gun, a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a hat.

Theo with Elder Copeland on the day he got baptized.

With his best friend Killian doing some fencing.

Theo being thrashed at skittles.

On the train coming back from London.

Playing guitar with Gonk.

This was the Scout pioneering competition at the Butchers Coppice fun day. They gave each group a collection of poles, lengths of rope and a picture of what they had to make. Theo had his structure built before the other teams had even worked out how to start so his team won first prize.

This was taken at the Thai fair in Boscombe.

Cataloging his rock collection.