A Very Special Day

On the 22nd of February the whole family came together for a very special occasion, the Christening of Emma and Alexander. Although Tom and Lily were both baptised as babies, somehow we never got around to organising Emma's Christening. Probably something to do with having three children under five at the time! Anyway, it made sense to have Emma and Alex baptised at the same time, so that's what we did. We had the Christening at the church that Mark's parents go to and the vicar was absolutely wonderful. The baptism was held after the normal church service, so it was just our family there, which made it far less intimidating for Emma. The whole service was very relaxed and informal, the vicar was wonderful with the children and very friendly and it all felt very special indeed. 

After the Christening, Mark's parents took us all for a lovely meal at a lovely thatched pub nearby where we enjoyed some delicious food (I had the most fabulous toffee pudding and custard, which I shared with Alex. He was very impressed!). After the meal we drove back to Mark's parents house for tea and cake and to open the Christening gifts.

It really was such a wonderful day and it was so nice to be able to share it with everyone. It will always stand out in my memory as a very special day.

NB All the photos here (except the last one) were either taken by my sister Elaine, or by Mark's Uncle Keith. It's unusual to have so many pictures of me because I am normally the one behind the camera!

Uncle Keith managed to snap this photo of a very camera-shy Emma when she wasn't looking. It is the only decent picture we have of her from the day. Thank you Uncle Keith!

Emma Mary Charlotte is baptised

Alexander David Robert is baptised

Emma was exceedingly camera shy unfortunately. She looked so pretty too!

The lovely Godparents (and Tom)

Auntie Mary and our niece, Grace. Auntie Mary is Godmother to all four of our children and Emma has Mary as a middle name in honour of her.

My wonderful mother-in-law with Grace and Lily

Alex really liked my pearl necklace and spent much of the day trying to eat it!

We had two Christening cakes (both bought from Marks and Spencers). This one is a sponge. I just added the little girl and the 'On your Christening' decoration.

This one is a fruit cake. I just popped this adorable little baby boy decoration on top. 

So many lovely Christening cards from so many lovely people.

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Lily Makes her Promise

"I promise that I will do my best..."

Lily has been going to Brownies for a while now and absolutely loves it. She has been really looking forward to getting enrolled and being a fully-fledged Brownie and has been working on her Brownie book for a few weeks now. Last night was the big night and we were all invited to go and watch her getting enrolled.

Lily was so excited to be making her Brownie promise. She had been looking forward to it for weeks and couldn't wait for the day to arrive. Mark's mum and dad drove all the way over from Derby just to be there for Lily and she was so happy to have us all there. We were so proud of her!

After Brownies we came home and had some tea and cakes to celebrate. I made a cake and decorated it with yellow icing and chocolate flakes to match the Brownie uniform. I had to use an obscene amount of yellow food colouring to get the right shade of yellow. The photo doesn't begin to convey the actual colour! Alongside the cake, we also had brownies to celebrate our Brownie and a few other goodies. Lily was thrilled with the Brownie bear we bought her as a surprise. She was a very happy little girl when she went to bed that night!

It was a quiet night as it was Half Term, so there were not as many girls there as usual. I've obscured the faces of the other Brownies here. 

The icing was a lot more yellow than it appears here. A lot more!

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Our Valentine's Tea

I always put together a little Valentine's tea which we share with the Podlings and then Mark and I then usually have a nice meal together later in the evening when the children are in bed. Emma helped me to make the cake and largely decorated it by herself. I put the icing on and she told me where she wanted the pink sugar, but she did the rest herself. I think she did a lovely job. We all had a good appetite from our afternoon walk, so we enjoyed our little tea together. I love these special days with my family.

Emma clearly knew what she wanted the cake to look like and I think she did a lovely job decorating it.

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A Valentine's Walk

A walk in the woods with the people I love. What better way to spend Valentine's Day?

Alexander's First Valentine's Day

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Happy Valentine's Day!

There is so much love in our house and I am so grateful for it!

♥♥♥

Valentine's Treats

The Podlings' Valentine's baskets are laid out ready for them to find in the morning. Even baby Alex has a basket filled with a chocolate pudding, a small wooden toy and some of his favourite finger foods. I was so pleased to find these lovely baskets cheaply on eBay. I plan to use them for future Valentine's Days, though I suspect I will have trouble getting the girls to hand them back once they have finished their treats!

Alexander's basket

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If I like it, it's mine!

Alex is very mobile now, so I keep telling the older Podlings that they have to be tidy with their things. The message doesn't always get through. Alex was thrilled to find Lily's school bag open in the hallway this afternoon and had great fun turfing out the contents!

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