Will it ever snow!

It has been so cold these past few days and the topic on alot of peoples minds is when is it going to snow - we were "promised" several times this week that we would see some of the white stuff. Jack Frost has worked his magic on a couple of occasions and the scarves, mittens and hats are well and truly in action. But alas, no snow! Well not here anyway - Stacey informed me she has had some dreadful snow this week.
Delighted in one way that we didn't as Josh was on his outward bounds course at Malvern. Returned to us in one piece on Friday! Tired, bag full of washing and lots of experiences to share. When asked if he took many photos, his response was, I forgot! Oh well, can't do alot about that now.
Friday, the children had an activity at the chapel where for part of the night's events, they took presents to Santa that would be passed on to the local Women's Refuge.
Saturday, we tried to do a little bit more Christmas shopping. Little being the best words to describe what we came back with! The evening was spent again at the chapel, this time for a Ward Christmas "Party".
SOPHIE & HANNAH S

Minus 1

This week our family has not been functioning at full capacity. On Monday, Joshua left to spend the week at Malvern Outdoor Education Centre. His absence has been felt by us all. We look forward to having him back home tomorrow and hearing all his experiences.
Today I had the opportunity to accompany Ryan and his school mates to Coventry to visit the Cathedral and Herbert Museusm. I found the visit very informative - the children's focus had been on WW2. I hadn't realised that Coventry had been the first city to be bombed in the war outside London......
Photos that follow are courtesy of Ryan....

Wonderful Weekend

As I sit writing this, it is Sunday evening - the end of a very busy but wonderful weekend. My family joined us for a pre-Christmas get-together. Everyone had a great time - food, fun, walks,cookie decoration, games, movies, gift-exchange. The children were allowed to open one gift, much to their delight! Of course that meant the tree is up! But of course - one special part of our family was missing.....The Thompsons, but we were able to talk to Caroline & Katelyn by the wonders of technology courtesy of Skype. Mum is off to the States over Christmas. The last time she went was when Katelyn was very small so this should be an even more enjoyable experience! Amanda, Daniel & India drove up for the first time in their new car - Amanda is expecting April 28th - baby bump definitely there! Caroline got very emotional when she saw it! A few photos from the weekend to follow...... DAD SIAN INDIA ASHLEIGH & SOPHIE ETHAN DANIEL & AMANDA IAN & ASHLEIGH DAD, HELEN & STACEY MUM JOSHUA RYAN SOPHIE & COLIN

Bonfire Night

Earlier this month we took the children to Arrow Valley Lake to see the fireworks. It has been some time since we last went there. The children really enjoyed themselves. The weather held - no rain! Trying to get back to the car was an interesting experience - never been part of a human traffic jam before!!!

Wii fun

As previously mentioned some time was spent at the weekend with some of my extended family. At one point during the afternoon Colin decided to set up the Wii and challenge all to a round of Golf..... I haven't seen so much competitiveness and humourous antics in a while...

Playing catch up ..... again

Spare time has been lacking of late and it appears I have to play another game of catch up. As it stand right now probably one of the most significant events that occurred is the pasing of my Nana - Joan Ruth Beswick.
Her funeral service was last week and was held at Lodge Hill Crematorium in Birmingham. I had not seen my grandmother for some time and had an unusual relationship with her so was particularly overwhelmed at the level of emotion I experienced. My uncle came over from the States - it was great to see him even under the circumstances - we had an opportunity to spend extra time with him and his wife "Roo" and Seamus, an old friend of Martin's. Dad and Helen came too. We spent a really pleasant afternoon with them all.
On Sunday Dad, Martin & Liz (my aunt) travelled up to Hale to scatter my Nana's ashes. A couple of my aunts didn't go. I understand from my dad that those that went shared a special experience!

Catch up....

Has it really been a month since I last recorded the events in the lives of The Summers Family. Since then I had a fantastic opportunity to visit Centerparcs with some girlie friends - had a wonderful time - Chatting & chilling & chatting & swimming & chatting & eating & chatting some more. Next years trip is already booked.
The lovely Vicky gave up an hour and a half of her time to straighten my hair - as a result I have just bought some GHDs and had a go at straightening my hair myself!!!

This last week we visited Trinty High School - with a view to sending Joshua there next September.... Colin attended the same site years ago when it was Abbey High. A lot of reminiscing and comparisons took place. We were all very impressed with the facilities and friendliness of the staff.

Back to School Photos

Problem uploading the photos just so here I go again....

Back to School

Thursday saw all the children back to school. We had to, of course, take the honorary back to school photos and all the children had Fathers Blessings.
Josh & Ryan cycled to school whilst Colin (who was off work) and I took Sophie & Ethan. Sophie is now on the "big" playground with Ethan and was very excited - we had a few tears from Ethan but they all came home reporting they had a good day. Joshua is in his final year of Middle School, so we are now on the search for his High School. KS2 SATs this year for Ryan.
Sophie - Year 1 Mrs Smith/Miss Maries
Ethan - Year 3 Mrs Doubleday
Ryan - Year 6 Miss Ayres
Joshua - Year 8 Mr Sullivan

Catching up - August

Unfortunately due to illness, I was unable to be as efficient as hoped with regards to keeping my blog up to date - therefore I now find myself playing catch up with a couple of events that took place in August that have not been recorded as yet.

First and foremost our wonderful daughter Sophie celebrated her fifth birthday - she had been looking forward to the occasion for quite a substantial period of time.

Sophie wanted to reassure me on the morning of her birthday that she had not been downstairs yet!! (....to see if she had any presents)
She had a party at the local Wacky Warehouse with about 15 of her friends, which was then followed up by a family BBQ.

Secondly after three years of trying but sadly failing, due to other commitments, we finally made it to the Lawsons for the Annual Bank Holiday Bash. We (along with other friends of ours...)arrived Sunday evening and camped and ate and chatted (around a campfire of course) before heading off to bed in preparation for our bike ride in the forest the next morning - which turned out to be a "little" longer than first anticipated. A good time was had by all - great company, beautiful setting - what more could we ask for really! Roll on next year's event - what to do though then.... decisions, decisions!

More photos - wedding

....More photos from the wedding can be seen on my Flickr page.

Amanda & Daniel's Wedding

As I write this I am lying in bed recovering from the busy weekend we have had. On Saturday Amanda married Daniel Heaf. The ceremony took place at The Old Town Hall in Marylebone with a small party of family and close friends in attendance. Following that we had lunch at the Bluebird restaurant in Chelsea. Evening events took place at The Chelsea Gardener - by the time we got home (after Colin & I helped to get the place back in order!!!) it was about 1 o'clock in the morning. I do forget how rubbish traffic can be...... an hour to travel 5 miles back to the Holiday Inn in Camden.
After a good breakfast we all spent some quality family together. My wonderful uncle from the States came over for the wedding with his lovely wife Roo.... (not her real name but that's what we call her....) Martyn & Roo fly back today - we will miss them dearly. Another person very sadly missed was my little sister Caroline and her family. They were unable to get over and their presence was missed greatly.
A wonderful time was had by all - CONGRATULATIONS AMANDA & DANIEL. We love you and wish you all the best.

Today Josh went to his first YM Camp. This is being held at Blackwell Court - a Scout Camp about 10 minutes from our home.

He has been looking forward to this for a long time. I have the great honour of preparing the evening meal for the group of Deacon-aged Youth and their Leaders. He is really enjoying being part of the Youth Programme. A couple of weeks ago we attended the Preston Temple as a family and Josh was given the opportunity of performing baptisms for the first time - it was all the more special as he was able to do this on behalf of some of our family members. The baptims were performed by Colin & witnessed by Ray. Both my mum and Colin's mum were there too.

Back from Newcastle

Last week spent some time in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We were accompanied by Colin's parents, Ray & Brenda, who are originally from the area but moved down to Redditch over 50 years ago.

Whilst there we were able to catch up with some of our extended family.

We all had a wonderful time either reminiscing or just having fun being together.